O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 31-7-141 (2019)

Committee members immune from liability

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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There shall be no monetary liability on the part of and no cause of action for damages shall arise against any member of a duly appointed medical review committee for any act or proceeding undertaken or performed within the scope of the functions of any such committee if the committee member acts without malice or fraud. This immunity shall apply only to actions by providers of health services, and in no way shall this Code section render any medical review committee immune from any action in tort or contract brought by a patient or his successors or assigns. This Code section shall not affect the immunity of an officer or an employee of a public corporation.

History

Ga. L. 1975, p. 739, § 2; Code 1981, § 31-7-141, enacted by Ga. L. 1983, p. 3, § 22.

Annotations

Cross references. - Immunity of per-

sons furnishing information to peer review groups from civil liability, § 31-7-130 et seq.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Preemption. - Under O.C.G.A. § 31-7-132(a), a peer reviewer is immune unless the reviewer is motivated by malice toward any person affected by such activity, and under O.C.G.A. § 31-7-141, a medical review committee member is immune if the committee member acts without malice or fraud; to the extent that peer review and medical review immunity are conditioned upon the absence of malice and deception, the statutes are preempted by the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986, specifically 42 U.S.C. § 11111(a), under which bias is irrelevant. Patton v. St. Francis Hosp., 260 Ga. App. 202, 581 S.E.2d 551 (2003). To the extent that peer review and medical review immunity under O.C.G.A. §§ 31-7-132(a) and 31-7-141 are conditioned upon the absence of malice and

deception, the statutes are preempted by the federal Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 (HCQIA), 42 U.S.C. § 11101 et seq., under which bias is irrelevant. Cancel v. Medical Center of Central Ga., Inc., 345 Ga. App. 215, 812 S.E.2d 592 (2018), cert. denied, 2018 Ga. LEXIS 769 (Ga. 2018). Immunity from claims filed by health care providers. - Georgia peer review and medical review statutes, which establish the privilege for the proceedings and records of peer review organizations and medical review committees, also provide for immunity to participants and witnesses in such proceedings under: (1) O.C.G.A. § 31-7-130, which sets forth the intent of the Georgia General Assembly; (2) O.C.G.A. § 31-7-132(a), which provides immunity from liability for peer

review; (3) O.C.G.A. §§ 31-7-133(a) and 31-7-141, which provide immunity for medical review committee members from claims for damages filed by health care providers; and (4) O.C.G.A. § 31-7-143,

which provides that peer review and medical review proceedings are both absolutely privileged. Patton v. St. Francis Hosp., 260 Ga. App. 202, 581 S.E.2d 551 (2003).

RESEARCH REFERENCES ALR. - Tort liability of medical society or professional association for failure to discipline or investigate negligent or oth-

erwise incompetent medical practitioner, 72 A.L.R.4th 1148.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases, 1988–2010 · leading case: Emory Clinic v. Houston, 369 S.E.2d 913 (Ga. 1988).
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Emory Clinic v. Houston, 369 S.E.2d 913 (Ga. 1988). · cites it 4× “Furthermore, OCGA § 31-7-142 provides that the immunities granted to committee members under OCGA § 31-7-141 shall not confer immunity from liability on a hospital or health professional while performing service other than as a member of a medical review committee.”
McCall v. Henry Med. Ctr., Inc., 551 S.E.2d 739 (Ga. Ct. App. 2001). · cites it 2× “5 OCGA § 31-7-141 provides immunity to medical review committees, but expressly does not apply to patient claims.”
Wood v. Archbold Med. Ctr., Inc., 738 F. Supp. 2d 1298 (M.D. Ga. 2010). · cites it 5× “§ 31-7-132, immune from liability under the Georgia medical review statute, O.C.G.A. § 31-7-141, and are entitled to a release from liability based on Plaintiffs reappointment applications.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.