How to Select a Medical Malpractice Attorney in Georgia: A Step-by-Step Guide

A medical malpractice claim in Georgia runs on its own clock. The state has a limitation period written specifically for medical malpractice, an outer limit that applies even when the harm is discovered late, and separate rules for young children, for people who are legally incompetent, and for objects left in the body. Those rules decide how much time you have to find and hire an attorney, and they shape which attorney is realistic for your case. Georgia law governs, with one federal exception for care at federal facilities.

Step 1: Write Down the Dates

Before you call anyone, write down three dates as precisely as you can: the date of the treatment you are concerned about, the date the injury or the problem became apparent, and the date you first suspected the care was the cause. Georgia’s medical malpractice deadlines are measured from different events, so the attorney will need all three.

The main rules, from the published text of Georgia’s medical malpractice limitation article:

Situation	Rule	Statute
General rule	An action "shall be brought within two years after the date on which an injury or death arising from a negligent or wrongful act or omission occurred"	O.C.G.A. § 9-3-71(a)
Outer limit	"In no event may an action for medical malpractice be brought more than five years after the date on which the negligent or wrongful act or omission occurred"	O.C.G.A. § 9-3-71(b)
Object left in the body	The action "shall be brought within one year after the negligent or wrongful act or omission is discovered"	O.C.G.A. § 9-3-72
Child under five at the time	"Two years from the date of such minor's fifth birthday," and in no event "after the tenth birthday of the minor"	O.C.G.A. § 9-3-73(b), (c)(2)(A)
Child five or older at the time	Subject to the ordinary periods, and in no event "after five years from the date on which the negligent or wrongful act or omission occurred"	O.C.G.A. § 9-3-73(b), (c)(2)(B)
Person legally incompetent	Subject to the ordinary periods, and in no event "more than five years after the date on which the negligent or wrongful act or omission occurred"	O.C.G.A. § 9-3-73(b), (c)(1)

Three features of these rules matter for hiring.

First, the two-year period in § 9-3-71(a) runs from the date the injury “occurred,” not from the date you suspected malpractice. The statute itself calls subsection (a) a “two-year statute of limitations” and subsection (b) a “five-year statute of ultimate repose and abrogation” (§ 9-3-71(c)). If more than a year has passed since the treatment, raise the date question with any attorney before anything else.

Second, the five-year outer limit applies “in no event,” which is the statute’s language for a deadline that does not move. Even for young children, the separate rule in § 9-3-73 ends at the tenth birthday for a child injured before age five.

Third, a retained object is treated separately. Section 9-3-73(e) states that the minors and incompetency limits “shall not apply where a foreign object has been left in a patient’s body,” and that such cases are governed by § 9-3-72.

Ask each attorney: which of these rules applies to your facts, which date starts each one, and what is the last date on which the firm believes a lawsuit could be filed. Ask for the answer in writing after the firm reviews your records.

Step 2: Check Whether a Federal Facility or Federal Employee Was Involved

If the care was provided by a federal employee acting within the scope of employment, for example at a facility operated by a federal agency such as Veterans Affairs, the claim follows the Federal Tort Claims Act’s claim procedure and time limits rather than Georgia’s malpractice deadlines.

Under the Act, a lawsuit cannot begin until the claim has first been presented to the federal agency and denied: an action “shall not be instituted upon a claim against the United States … unless the claimant shall have first presented the claim to the appropriate Federal agency and his claim shall have been finally denied by the agency in writing” (28 U.S.C. § 2675(a)). If the agency does not decide within six months, the claimant may treat the silence as a denial. The time limits are separate: the written claim must be presented “within two years after such claim accrues,” and suit must begin within six months after the agency mails a final denial (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b)).

For selection, the federal route changes two things. The first step is an administrative claim, not a lawsuit, so you need an attorney who has prepared federal agency claims. And the deadlines are federal ones, so an attorney who only handles Georgia state-court cases may not be the right fit. If there is any chance the provider was a federal employee or the facility was federal, say so at the first meeting and ask how the firm will confirm it.

Step 3: Request Your Medical Records Early

Every attorney who evaluates a malpractice claim will want the records. You can request them yourself while you are choosing an attorney, which shortens the time between hiring and review.

Under the federal privacy rule, a health care provider covered by it “must act on a request for access no later than 30 days after receipt of the request,” with one extension of “no more than 30 days” if the provider gives you a written statement of the reasons for the delay (45 CFR § 164.524). If you ask for a copy, the provider “may impose a reasonable, cost-based fee,” limited to specified costs such as labor for copying and supplies.

Practical points for the request:

Ask for the complete record for the relevant period, including physician notes, nursing notes, medication records, imaging reports, and discharge papers.
Request records from every provider involved, not only the one you suspect.
Keep a copy of each written request and note the date it was sent.

Sixty days is the outer edge of the access rule once an extension is taken. Against a two-year limitation period, that is time worth saving by asking now.

Step 4: Understand That a Medical Review Comes Before a Lawsuit

A malpractice claim asks whether a “negligent or wrongful act or omission” occurred in medical care, the phrase used in § 9-3-71, and answering that question requires medical input. Ask each firm whether it has your records reviewed by a medical professional before deciding whether to file. A review of that kind takes time, and it costs money that someone has to advance.

Georgia also has a statute, O.C.G.A. § 9-11-9.1, that bears on what must be filed with certain complaints in professional negligence cases. It was amended in 2026 (House Bill 185, according to the Legislative Counsel’s summary of that session). Its requirements should be read in the amended text. Ask each attorney:

Does § 9-11-9.1 apply to my claim, and what does it require at the time of filing? The statute was amended in 2026, so the answer should come from the amended text.
Who will review my records, in what specialty, and how long does that review usually take at your firm? A named specialty and a realistic time frame let you check the review against your deadline.
Who pays for the review, and do I owe anything if the review does not support a claim? The cost of a review that leads nowhere should be settled before it starts.

Ask also whether Georgia law sets qualifications for the professional who would give an opinion in your case, and how the firm’s reviewer meets them. Qualifications are easier to match before the review than to repair after it.

Step 5: Decide Who the Client Is

A family member may make the first call on behalf of a patient, but the person who calls the attorney is not necessarily the person the attorney represents.

If the patient is an adult who can make decisions, ask whether the firm will represent the patient directly, whether the patient will sign the engagement, and how the firm will involve family members the patient wants included.
If the patient is a child, ask who will sign for the child and how any settlement for the child would be approved and held.
If the patient is legally incompetent, ask who has legal authority to act and whether a guardian or conservator must be appointed first. Section 9-3-73(c)(1) applies the five-year outer limit to legally incompetent patients, so this question has a deadline attached.
If the patient died, the claim may become a wrongful death claim held by specific family members under a different statute. That changes who may hire the attorney and is a separate selection question.

Ask each attorney: whom will the engagement letter name as the client, and who will make decisions about the case?

Step 6: Know What the 2025 Changes Mean for Medical Expenses

In April 2025, Georgia enacted Senate Bill 68 (SB 68 enrolled text). One provision speaks directly to the medical bills in a malpractice case. New O.C.G.A. § 51-12-1.1 limits special damages for medical and healthcare expenses “to the reasonable value of medically necessary care, treatment, or services,” and, when the plaintiff has health insurance, makes both the amounts charged and the amounts actually necessary to satisfy those charges under the insurance contract part of the evidence on that question.

For selection, the useful question is how the attorney will prove the cost of the additional care your injury required, given the new rule. Ask whether the Act applies to your case based on the date of the injury, since the Act states that certain sections apply only to causes of action arising on or after its effective date.

Step 7: Check Bar Status and Malpractice Trial Experience

The bar listing

The State Bar of Georgia publishes a member directory. Search the attorney’s name and note the status shown. The listing confirms the license and its status; it says nothing about malpractice cases, access to medical reviewers, or trials against hospitals and physician groups.

The firm’s own page on the practice area

A firm’s practice-area page shows how the firm describes its own malpractice work, which you can compare with your case before the meeting. Adams, Jordan & Herrington, for instance, publishes a page on medical malpractice for clients in the Macon area. Read a page like that for the kinds of care and cases the firm says it handles, then use the meeting for what no website shows: who would conduct the medical review, and who would try the case.

Experience with the kind of care involved

Malpractice cases differ by the kind of care: surgery, emergency medicine, obstetrics, diagnosis, medication, nursing care. Ask which kinds of cases the firm has handled recently and in which courts. General injury experience and experience with the medical questions in your case are different things, and the list of recent cases shows which one you are hearing about.

Step 8: Test the Firm on Your Dates and Its Review

Practice varies, so the aim is a specific answer, not a particular one.

Start with the date. Ask for the last day a lawsuit could be filed on your facts, and which rule produces it. An answer that applies §§ 9-3-71 through 9-3-73 to your dates names the rule and the event it runs from. “Two years,” given without asking whether a child was involved, whether an object was left behind, or when the injury occurred, leaves those questions open, so ask them before relying on the date.

Then ask about screening. How many malpractice claims did the firm review in the last year before any suit was filed, and how many did it decline after medical review? Ask who made those decisions: the attorney you are meeting, or someone else in the firm. A review that never leads to a decline is hard to read as a screen, and the reasons given for recent declines show you the standard the firm would apply to yours.

Run the conflict question early. Hospitals and physician groups are institutional parties that a firm may have represented or opposed before. Ask who the opposing parties would be and whether any of them is a past or current client of the firm.

Ask about people and trial. Who will handle your file day to day, and who would try the case? When did the firm last try a malpractice case to verdict, in which court, and who was lead trial counsel? The answers tell you whether trial is a practical option for this firm or a theoretical one.

Finally, ask what you will receive if the review does not support a claim. A written decline that states any deadline the firm identified leaves you time to seek a second opinion.

Step 9: Read the Fee Agreement for a Malpractice Case

If the attorney proposes a contingency fee, the percentage is whatever the written agreement says. The questions specific to malpractice cases are about the cost of review and the cost of experts:

Who pays for the initial medical review, and is that cost repaid from a recovery or owed regardless? Review costs are incurred before anyone knows whether a case exists.
If the firm decides not to file after review, do you owe anything? The answer tells you the cost of finding out.
How are expert witness costs handled if the case goes forward, and are they deducted before or after the fee is calculated? The order changes your net recovery.
Does the percentage change if the case resolves before suit, after suit, or after trial? The stage at which a case resolves is not known at signing.
If you change attorneys mid-case, how is the first firm paid? A later change has a price, and the agreement should state it.

Ask for a written example using a hypothetical recovery, showing the fee, the review and expert costs, any repayment to a health insurer, and your net amount.

Step 10: If an Attorney Declines, and How to Decide

An attorney may decline a malpractice case for reasons that have nothing to do with whether you were harmed: the review did not support a breach of the standard of care, the damages do not justify the cost of experts, the deadline leaves too little time, or the firm lacks a reviewer in the relevant specialty. A decline is one firm’s decision, not a ruling on your claim.

If you are declined:

Ask for the decline in writing, with the date of any deadline the firm identified.
Ask whether the firm will return your records.
Move to the next consultation without waiting, because the limitation and repose periods continue to run.

When you have met two or more attorneys, compare their answers on the same points: the last filing date each identified and the rule behind it; whether a federal route applies; who would review your records and who pays; whom the firm would represent; how each fee agreement treats review and expert costs; and who would handle the case. Put the last filing dates side by side first. If they differ, the statute and the starting event behind each date decide which is right, and that question comes before any other comparison.

Three omissions leave something unexamined. No question about your dates leaves the deadline open; no question about a federal facility leaves the route open; and no answer about who pays for medical review leaves the cost open. Each is easy to fix by asking, and each is worth fixing before you sign.

Legal disclaimer: This guide provides general information about Georgia medical malpractice deadlines and about selecting an attorney. It is not legal advice. Georgia statutes are quoted as published in a code compilation and may have been amended since; confirm the current text with the attorney you hire.