Back to Claims Articles
Printer Friendly
On February 7, 2008, the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled in a medical malpractice case in which the defendant physician made statements of fault at the time of the second surgery.
Georgia law however, permits a physician or other health care provider to apologize to patients and their families for unfortunate or unexpected outcomes without the fear of
having such statements used as an admission of fault during subsequent malpractice litigation.
This law, O.C.G.A. section 24-3-37.1(c) was passed as part of the 2005 Georgia Tort Reform Act.
The facts in Airasian v. Shaak, involved a patient that had a significant portion of his colon removed. The physician later discovered that the remaining portion of the colon was necrotic and thus emergency surgery had to be performed.
The patient filed a medical malpractice action alleging that the physician failed to provide adequate blood flow to the surgery site. The jury ruled in favor of the physician.
The plaintiff’s then appealed the trial court’s decision because the court did not admit the physician’s statements that were made during the emergency surgery. The specific statement was to the patient’s wife after the surgery which was, “This was my fault.” The Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s decision that the physician’s statements fell within the plain meaning of the statute and for that reason, the statements were inadmissible.
