When a medical malpractice wrongful death case ends in a judgment or settlement, families and others sometimes wonder whether a state licensing authority is informed of the result. Georgia law does require certain reporting in connection with medical malpractice payments, and this guide explains who must report, what triggers the duty, and where it comes from.
The Georgia Composite Medical Board
The state agency that licenses and regulates physicians and certain other practitioners in Georgia is the Georgia Composite Medical Board. Among its functions is maintaining information about the practitioners it licenses, which can include information about malpractice payments. To make that possible, Georgia law channels certain reports of malpractice payments to the Board.
The Reporting Statute
The key statute is O.C.G.A. Section 33-3-27, titled in the Georgia Code as relating to reports of awards under medical malpractice insurance policies. This statute places a reporting duty on insurers that provide medical malpractice insurance coverage in Georgia.
Under O.C.G.A. Section 33-3-27, an insurer providing medical malpractice coverage must notify the Georgia Composite Medical Board in writing when it pays a judgment, or when it enters into an agreement to pay an amount to settle a medical malpractice claim. The duty is triggered by the payment of a judgment or by a settlement payment, not only by a jury verdict. The statute generally requires the report to be made to the Board within a set period after the payment or settlement is finalized.
The statute also addresses certain narrow situations, such as low payments made under so-called high-low agreements. A high-low agreement is an arrangement in which the parties agree in advance on a minimum recovery and a maximum recovery regardless of the trial outcome. The statute and related guidance distinguish these arrangements, and reporting can apply to a payment made under such an agreement even where a judgment is entered in favor of the physician.
How This Applies to a Wrongful Death Judgment
A medical malpractice wrongful death case is a medical malpractice claim for reporting purposes. If a judgment in such a case is paid by a medical malpractice insurer, or if the insurer settles the claim by agreement, the insurer’s reporting duty under O.C.G.A. Section 33-3-27 is generally triggered in the same way it would be for any other medical malpractice payment. The fact that the underlying claim is for wrongful death rather than for a non-fatal injury does not by itself remove the matter from the statute, because it remains a medical malpractice claim that has been resolved by judgment or settlement.
The Physician’s Own Reporting Obligations
In addition to the insurer’s duty, physicians licensed in Georgia have their own reporting responsibilities to the Georgia Composite Medical Board. The Board maintains a malpractice reporting process and expects licensees to report malpractice settlements and judgments to it. Physician reporting duties exist alongside the insurer reporting duty, so a single resolved claim can give rise to reporting from more than one source. The Board’s own published materials describe the reporting forms and timing it expects from licensees.
What the Reporting Does and Does Not Mean
It is useful to understand the limited purpose of these reports. A report to the Georgia Composite Medical Board records that a malpractice payment was made. It is not, by itself, a finding that the practitioner committed misconduct, and a payment can occur for many reasons, including a decision to settle a disputed claim.
The Board separately has authority to investigate practitioners and to take disciplinary action where warranted. A malpractice payment report is one piece of information the Board may have, but the existence of a report does not equate to a disciplinary determination. The decision whether to investigate or discipline is made through the Board’s own processes.
Reporting of malpractice payments at the state level also operates alongside the federal National Practitioner Data Bank, a national repository that collects information about malpractice payments and certain adverse actions concerning practitioners. State reporting and the federal data bank serve overlapping but distinct functions.
Summary
Georgia does require notification of a licensing authority in connection with medical malpractice payments, including those arising from wrongful death cases. Under O.C.G.A. Section 33-3-27, insurers that pay a judgment or settle a medical malpractice claim must report that payment in writing to the Georgia Composite Medical Board. Physicians licensed in Georgia also have their own duty to report malpractice settlements and judgments to the Board. These reports record that a payment was made; they are not themselves findings of wrongdoing, and any disciplinary review is handled separately through the Board’s processes.
Disclaimer
This article is provided strictly for general educational and informational purposes. It is intended to explain how Georgia law works as a matter of public legal education, and it does not constitute legal advice, a legal opinion, or a recommendation about any particular course of action. Reading this article, or contacting the website on which it appears, does not create an attorney-client relationship between the reader and any law firm, attorney, or author.
The law changes over time. Statutes, regulations, court rules, and judicial decisions discussed here may have been amended, repealed, superseded, or reinterpreted after the date of publication, and citations to specific code sections or cases reflect the law only as it was understood when this article was written. The application of any legal principle also depends heavily on the specific facts and circumstances of an individual matter, and outcomes vary from case to case.
For these reasons, no one should rely on this article as a substitute for advice from a licensed Georgia attorney who can review the particular facts involved. The author and publisher make no warranty, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or applicability of the information provided, and disclaim any liability for any action taken or not taken based on this content.