How does the statute of repose affect a child’s malpractice claim in Georgia?

· 3 min read

Childhood does not erase the five-year outer limit, but Georgia gives the youngest patients a special accommodation. The interaction between a minor’s protections and the repose statute is one of the trickier corners of the state’s malpractice law, and the result depends heavily on the child’s age when the negligence occurred.

The general repose still applies to minors

The five-year statute of repose in O.C.G.A. § 9-3-71 sets an absolute limit measured from the negligent act, and it is not the kind of deadline that simply pauses while a patient is a minor. Tolling rules that extend ordinary deadlines for children do not freely override a repose period. So a child’s malpractice claim generally remains subject to a firm outer boundary, rather than waiting open-ended until adulthood.

This makes pediatric malpractice timing different from many other injury claims involving children, where minority can substantially delay the running of a deadline. Repose is built for finality, and that purpose limits how much a minor’s status can extend it.

The special rule for very young children

Georgia provides a distinct accommodation for the youngest patients through O.C.G.A. § 9-3-73, which addresses certain disabilities and exceptions. The dividing line is whether the child was under the age of five on the date of the negligent act. If the child was under five, no malpractice action may be brought after the child’s tenth birthday. If the child was already five or older on that date, the claim is cut off five years from the act, the same outer limit that applies to adults.

The same statute also softens the ordinary two-year limitation period for the very young. A child who was under five when the cause of action arose has two years from the fifth birthday to file, which effectively allows a filing window through roughly the seventh birthday, provided it stays within the tenth-birthday repose limit.

Because these provisions turn on specific ages and dates, the precise deadline for any given child depends on:

  • Whether the child was under five, or five or older, on the date of the negligent act.
  • Whether the limitation period in § 9-3-73(b) or the repose limit in § 9-3-73(c) controls the calculation.
  • Whether any separate exception, such as the foreign-object rule, is in play.

Given how the age cutoffs work, calculating a minor’s deadline is fact-specific and should be confirmed against the current statute rather than assumed.

The bottom line

A child’s malpractice claim in Georgia is still bounded by the repose framework, with O.C.G.A. § 9-3-73 providing an age-based accommodation rather than open-ended tolling. A child under five at the time of the negligence has until the tenth birthday, while a child five or older is held to the same five-year outer limit as an adult, so the timing turns on the child’s age on the date of the act.

This article is for general educational and informational purposes only and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship, and Georgia law may change. For advice about a specific situation, consult a licensed Georgia personal injury attorney.

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