O.C.G.A.
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.
(a) No student who participates in the provision of medical care or medical treatment under the supervision of a medical facility, academic institution, or doctor of medicine, as a part of an academic curriculum leading to the award of a medical degree, shall be liable for any civil damages as a result of any act or omission in such participation, except for willful or wanton misconduct.
(b) Subsection (a) of this Code section shall not be construed to affect or limit the liability of a medical facility, academic institution, or doctor of medicine.
History
(Code 1981, § 51-1-38, enacted by Ga. L. 1987, p. 363, § 1.)
Annotations
Code Commission notes. - Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1987, Code Section 51-1-38, as enacted by Ga. L.
1987, p. 433, § 1, was redesignated as Code Section 51-1-39.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
4
cases (
2 in the last 5 years), 2009–2025 · leading case:
Bonner v. Peterson, 687 S.E.2d 676 (Ga. Ct. App. 2009).
Bonner v. Peterson, 687 S.E.2d 676 (Ga. Ct. App. 2009).
· cites it 14× “She *445 further asserted that her status as a resident physician entitled her to immunity under OCGA § 51-1-38 (a), which provides tort immunity to medical students.”
Nelson v. Bd. of Regents of the Univ. Sys. of Georgia, 704 S.E.2d 868 (Ga. Ct. App. 2010).
· cites it 4× “1 (a), and to medical students, OCGA § 51-1-38 (a). But in light of our decision upholding the dismissal on the ground of qualified immunity under the GTCA, we need not reach the merits of these alternative grounds.”
Statham v. Quang, 915 S.E.2d 864 (Ga. 2025).
· cites it 40× “We granted certiorari in this case to determine whether physicians who supervised a medical student during a surgery could be held vicariously liable for any negligent acts or omissions that the medical student may have committed during the procedure, under OCGA § 51-1-38,…”
Jacqueline Statham v. David S. Quang (Ga. Ct. App. 2024).
· cites it 12× “Georgia law is clear that when considering the relationship between parties, a written contract controls the terms and scope of that relationship.”
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.