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

O.C.G.A. § 31-7-70 (2019)

Short title

✓ 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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This article shall be known and may be cited as the ‘‘Hospital Authorities Law.’’

History

Code 1933, § 88-1801, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, p. 499, § 1; Ga. L. 1996, p. 6, § 31. Administrative rules and regulations. - Rural Hospital Assistance Act, Official Compilation of the Rules and Reg-

ulations of the State of Georgia, Department of Community Health, Health Planning, Chapter 111-2-4.

Annotations

Law reviews. - For article, ‘‘Local Government Law,’’ see 53 Mercer L. Rev. 389 (2001).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Ga. L. 1964, p. 499, § 1 repealed and superseded the 1941 Hospital Authorities Law. Collins v. Nix, 125 Ga. App. 520, 188 S.E.2d 235 (1972) (see O.C.G.A. § 31-7-70). Members of authority boards cannot discharge duties by proxy. - Since such authorities as this section creates are in effect instrumentalities of the state discharging essential governmental obligations, it would be contrary to public interest to hold that members of boards of such authorities could discharge their solemn responsibilities by way of proxies; therefore, they must discharge them in person. Collins v. Nix, 125 Ga. App. 520, 188 S.E.2d 235 (1972). Punitive damages not allowed against authority. - It is against Georgia public policy to allow an award of punitive damages in a medical malpractice action against a hospital authority created as a governmental entity under the Hospital Authorities Act, O.C.G.A. § 31-7-70 et seq. Hospital Auth. v. Martin, 210 Ga. App. 893, 438 S.E.2d 103 (1993), aff ’d, 264 Ga. 626, 449 S.E.2d 827 (1994). Hospital authority’s receipt of funds from two counties in general sup-

port of an indigent treatment program did not divest the authority or the authority’s hospital of their character as county agencies or instrumentalities so as to waive sovereign immunity. Culberson v. Fulton-DeKalb Hosp. Auth., 201 Ga. App. 347, 411 S.E.2d 75, cert. denied, 201 Ga. App. 905, 411 S.E.2d 75 (1991). ERISA preemption. - In a breach of contract case, defendants’ Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss on the basis of Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq., preemption was denied because the insured’s former employer, a hospital authority, was a government political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality for purposes of ERISA’s governmental plan exemption; the hospital authority was created pursuant to the Georgia Hospital Authorities Act, O.C.G.A. § 31-7-70 et seq. Williams-Mason v. Reliance Std. Life Ins. Co., No. CV206-124, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40052 (S.D. Ga. June 16, 2006). Cited in Hospital Auth. v. Stewart, 226 Ga. 530, 175 S.E.2d 857 (1970); Daughtrey v. State, 226 Ga. 758, 177 S.E.2d 670 (1970).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Hospital authority may not own or operate a for profit business corporation. 1995 Op. Att’y Gen. No. U95-11. Conflict of interest of hospital authority board member. - Member of a hospital authority board has an impermissible conflict of interest if the member has any financial interest, not de minimis, in an entity conducting business with the authority notwithstanding the existence

of an intermediary between the board and the entity. 1995 Op. Att’y Gen. No. U95-11. Authority’s right to operate and charge for ambulance service. - Hospital authority has right to operate ambulance service for transportation of patients to and from the authority’s hospital and may make charges for such service. 1965-66 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 66-176.

RESEARCH REFERENCES ALR. - Medical malpractice: negligent catheterization, 31 A.L.R.5th 1.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 25 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1983–2024 · leading case: Smith v. Northside Hosp., Inc., 807 S.E.2d 909 (Ga. 2017).
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Smith v. Northside Hosp., Inc., 807 S.E.2d 909 (Ga. 2017). · cites it 4× “” This is simply not a correct statement of the law or of what the Authority actually did.”
Northside Hosp. Inc. v. E. Kendrick Smith, 783 S.E.2d 480 (Ga. Ct. App. 2016). · cites it 8× “, a private, nonprofit corporation, and on November 1, 1991, it executed a lease 3 See OCGA §§ 31-7-70 et seq. 3 and transfer agreement with the newly formed entity to facilitate the restructuring.”
Fed. Trade Comm'n v. Phoebe Putney Health Sys., Inc., 133 S. Ct. 1003 (2013). “, at 241, Ga. Code Ann. §31-7-70 et seq. (2012), “to provide a mechanism for the operation and maintenance of needed health care facilities in the several counties and municipalities of th[e] state.”
Northside Hosp. Inc. v. E. Kendrick Smith, 820 S.E.2d 758 (Ga. Ct. App. 2018). · cites it 2× “Judgment affirmed in Case No. A15A2304 and reversed and remanded in Case No.”
Fed. Trade Comm'n v. Phoebe Putney Health Sys., Inc., 663 F.3d 1369 (11th Cir. 2011). · cites it 4× “Laws 241 (codified as amended at O.C.G.A. § 31-7-70 et seq.). That statute creates a hospital authority, “a public body corporate and politic,” for each city and county, O.”
Richmond Cnty. Hosp. Auth. v. Richmond Cnty., 336 S.E.2d 562 (Ga. 1985). · cites it 2× “The Richmond County Hospital Authority (the Authority) is a governmental entity which was created in 1960 by resolution of the Board of Commissioners of Richmond County, pursuant to the Hospi *184 tal Authorities Act (OCGA § 31-7-70 et seq.; Ga. L. 1964, p. 499), to operate the…”
Hosp. Auth. of Houston Cty. v. Bohannon, 611 S.E.2d 663 (Ga. Ct. App. 2005). · cites it 4× “" [2] See OCGA § 31-7-70 et seq. (Georgia Hospital Authorities Law).”
Savannah Cemetery Grp. Inc. v. DePue-Wilbert Vault Co., 704 S.E.2d 858 (Ga. Ct. App. 2010). · cites it 2× “§ 88-1801 (OCGA § 31-7-70), was limited to a determination of whether hospital authority’s action in adopting rule was arbitrary and unreasonable); see also OCGA § 31-7-75 (every hospital authority is deemed to exercise public and essential governmental functions); OCGA §…”
The Med. Ctr. Hosp. Auth. v. Columbus, Georgia Bd. of Tax Assessors, 788 S.E.2d 879 (Ga. Ct. App. 2016). · cites it 2× “The Medical Center Hospital Authority (“Hospital Authority”) is a hospital authority created under the Hospital Authorities Law, OCGA § 31-7-70 et seq. Spring Harbor at Green Island is a continuing care retirement facility built on 40 acres of land owned by Columbus Regional…”
The Med. Ctr. of Cent. Georgia, Inc. v. Hosp. Auth. of Monroe Cnty., 798 S.E.2d 42 (Ga. Ct. App. 2017). · cites it 2× “MCH is a political subdivision of the State of Georgia, organized under the Georgia Hospital Authorities Law, OCGA § 31-7-70 et seq., and operates a hospital in Forsyth, Monroe County, Georgia.”
Hosp. Auth. v. Martin, 438 S.E.2d 103 (Ga. Ct. App. 1993). · cites it 4× “The Hospital Authority is a public funded governmental entity created pursuant to the Hospital Authorities Act (OCGA § 31-7-70 et seq.). Cox Enterprises v.”
Clayton Cnty. Hosp. Auth. v. Webb, 430 S.E.2d 89 (Ga. Ct. App. 1993). · cites it 4× “The Authority is a governmental entity created pursuant to the Hospital Authorities Act, OCGA § 31-7-70 et seq. In January 1991, the Authority reorganized itself by creating a group of affiliated nonprofit corporations, and transferring control of the Authority’s assets to one…”
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