Georgia’s deadlines for filing medical malpractice claims include special provisions for very young children. When the patient was under the age of five at the time of the alleged negligence, the timing rules differ from the general rule. This guide explains those special provisions and how they relate to the broader limitations framework.
The General Medical Malpractice Limitations Rule
Georgia’s statute of limitations for medical malpractice actions is found in O.C.G.A. Section 9-3-71. The general rule is that an action for medical malpractice must be brought within two years after the date on which the injury or death arising from the negligent act or omission occurred.
Georgia law also includes a statute of repose in O.C.G.A. Section 9-3-71. A statute of repose sets an outer time limit measured from the date of the negligent act itself. The general repose period bars medical malpractice actions brought more than five years after the date of the negligent or wrongful act or omission, even in some circumstances where the injury was not discovered until later. A statute of limitations and a statute of repose are different concepts: the limitations period generally runs from the injury, while the repose period runs from the negligent act and operates as a firm cutoff.
The Special Rule for Children Under Five
The provision that addresses young children is O.C.G.A. Section 9-3-73, which sets out certain disabilities and exceptions applicable to the medical malpractice limitations rules.
For a child who was under the age of five years on the date of the negligent or wrongful act or omission, O.C.G.A. Section 9-3-73 provides a special timing rule. Rather than running the two-year period from the date of the injury in the ordinary way, the statute frames the deadline around the child’s age. Under this provision, the limitations period for such a child does not expire until the child’s seventh birthday. In other words, the two-year period is measured so that it does not start before the child’s fifth birthday, giving a window that closes when the child turns seven.
The statute also addresses the repose concept for these young children. For a child who was under five at the time of the act or omission, O.C.G.A. Section 9-3-73 provides that the outer cutoff does not bar an action brought before the child’s tenth birthday. This adjusts the ordinary five-year repose period so that it does not cut off a young child’s claim earlier than the child’s tenth birthday.
These adjustments exist because a very young child cannot recognize an injury or pursue a claim, and an injury caused by medical negligence in early childhood might otherwise be time-barred before anyone could reasonably act on it.
How This Applies in a Wrongful Death Context
The special provisions in O.C.G.A. Section 9-3-73 are written around the age of a living child. When a child has died, the analysis shifts, because a wrongful death claim is brought by survivors rather than by the child.
A medical malpractice wrongful death claim is governed both by the medical malpractice limitations framework in O.C.G.A. Sections 9-3-71 through 9-3-73 and by the wrongful death statutes in O.C.G.A. Section 51-4-1 and following. The general medical malpractice limitations rule and the repose statute apply to a wrongful death claim based on medical negligence. The age-based adjustments in O.C.G.A. Section 9-3-73 are, by their terms, tied to milestones in a child’s life such as the fifth, seventh, and tenth birthdays. How those age-based provisions interact with a claim brought after a child’s death is a nuanced question that depends on the specific facts and on how the statutes are read together. Because of that nuance, the precise deadline in any individual situation is not something that can be stated as a single fixed number for all cases.
Tolling for Legal Disability Generally
Georgia also has a broader doctrine that tolls limitations periods for minors and others under a legal disability, found in O.C.G.A. Section 9-3-90 and related sections. The medical malpractice limitations statutes, however, contain their own specific rules for minors in O.C.G.A. Section 9-3-73, and those specific provisions, rather than the general disability tolling rules, are what govern timing in the medical malpractice context for young children.
Summary
Georgia provides special statute of limitations treatment for medical malpractice involving children who were under five years old at the time of the alleged negligence. Under O.C.G.A. Section 9-3-73, the limitations period for such a child is framed around the child’s age so that it does not expire before the child’s seventh birthday, and the outer repose cutoff does not bar an action brought before the child’s tenth birthday. These rules sit on top of the general two-year limitations period and five-year repose period in O.C.G.A. Section 9-3-71. When a young child has died, the wrongful death statutes also come into play, and how the age-based provisions apply in that situation is a fact-dependent question rather than a single fixed deadline.
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.
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