5 Most Common Types of Medical Malpractice in Georgia and South Carolina

When you trust a doctor, surgeon, or hospital with your health, you expect competent care. Unfortunately, medical errors remain one of the leading causes of preventable harm in the United States. According to a landmark study published in the British Medical Journal, medical errors contribute to more than 250,000 deaths per year in the U.S. — making them the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer. Many more patients suffer non-fatal injuries that cause lasting pain, disability, and financial hardship.

If you or a loved one has been harmed by a healthcare provider’s negligence in Georgia or South Carolina, understanding the most common types of medical malpractice can help you determine whether you have grounds for a legal claim. Here are the five most common categories of medical malpractice and what you should know about pursuing compensation in both states.

What Is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider — including doctors, surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, pharmacists, and hospitals — fails to meet the accepted standard of care and that failure causes injury to a patient. The “standard of care” is defined as the level of treatment that a reasonably competent healthcare provider in the same specialty would have provided under similar circumstances.

To establish medical malpractice in Georgia or South Carolina, you must generally prove four elements:

1. Duty: A doctor-patient relationship existed, creating a duty of care
2. Breach: The healthcare provider failed to meet the accepted standard of care
3. Causation: The breach directly caused your injury or worsened your condition
4. Damages: You suffered actual harm — medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, or other losses

1. Misdiagnosis and Delayed Diagnosis

Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis are the most frequently reported types of medical malpractice. When a doctor fails to correctly identify a condition — or takes too long to reach the right diagnosis — the patient may miss the critical treatment window, allowing the disease or condition to progress to a more serious or even fatal stage.

Common Misdiagnosis Scenarios

• Cancer misdiagnosed as a benign condition: A patient presents with symptoms of lung, breast, or colon cancer, but the doctor diagnoses a less serious condition. By the time the cancer is correctly identified, it may have spread to other organs.
• Heart attack misdiagnosed as indigestion or anxiety: Particularly common in women, whose heart attack symptoms often differ from classic presentations. A missed cardiac event can result in permanent heart damage or death.
• Stroke misdiagnosed as a migraine: Time is brain tissue — every minute of delayed stroke treatment causes additional, irreversible brain damage.
• Infections missed or undertreated: Failing to diagnose sepsis, meningitis, or necrotizing fasciitis in a timely manner can lead to organ failure, amputation, or death.

Diagnostic errors account for an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 hospital deaths annually, and they represent the largest category of paid malpractice claims in the United States.

2. Surgical Errors

Surgical errors — sometimes called “never events” because they should never happen — encompass a wide range of preventable mistakes that occur before, during, or after a surgical procedure.

Common Surgical Errors

• Wrong-site surgery: Operating on the wrong body part (e.g., the wrong knee, wrong kidney)
• Wrong-patient surgery: Performing a procedure on the wrong patient due to identification failures
• Retained surgical instruments: Leaving sponges, clamps, or other tools inside the patient’s body, which can cause infection, pain, and organ damage
• Nerve damage: Accidentally cutting or compressing nerves during surgery, leading to chronic pain, numbness, or paralysis
• Unnecessary surgery: Performing a surgical procedure that was not medically necessary based on the patient’s condition

Surgical errors can result in spinal cord injuries, burn injuries from electrocautery mistakes, and other life-altering harm that requires additional corrective surgeries and extended rehabilitation.

3. Medication Errors

Medication errors can occur at any point in the prescribing, dispensing, or administration chain — and the consequences can be severe or fatal. These errors are particularly dangerous because patients often have no way of knowing they received the wrong drug or dosage until symptoms appear.

Common Medication Errors

• Prescribing the wrong medication: Choosing a drug that is contraindicated for the patient’s condition or other medications
• Wrong dosage: Prescribing or administering too much or too little of a medication — especially dangerous with blood thinners, opioids, and chemotherapy drugs
• Failure to check for drug interactions: Prescribing a medication that interacts dangerously with another drug the patient is already taking
• Failure to review patient allergies: Administering a medication the patient is known to be allergic to
• Pharmacy dispensing errors: Filling the prescription with the wrong drug or wrong strength due to similar drug names or packaging

The Institute of Medicine estimates that medication errors harm at least 1.5 million Americans each year, with hospital-based errors costing $3.5 billion annually in additional medical costs.

4. Birth Injuries

Birth injuries occur when medical negligence during pregnancy, labor, or delivery causes harm to the mother, the baby, or both. These cases are among the most emotionally devastating forms of medical malpractice because the consequences often last a lifetime.

Common Birth Injuries

• Cerebral palsy: Often caused by oxygen deprivation (birth asphyxia) during labor when a healthcare provider fails to recognize fetal distress and perform an emergency C-section in time
• Erb’s palsy and brachial plexus injuries: Caused by excessive force during delivery, such as pulling too hard on the baby’s head or shoulders
• Maternal hemorrhage: Failure to monitor and respond to excessive bleeding during or after delivery
• Untreated preeclampsia: Failure to diagnose or properly manage dangerously high blood pressure, which can lead to seizures (eclampsia), organ damage, or death
• Improper use of delivery instruments: Misuse of forceps or vacuum extractors causing skull fractures, brain bleeding, or nerve damage

Birth injury cases often involve substantial lifetime damages — including ongoing medical care, therapy, adaptive equipment, and educational support — that can total millions of dollars.

5. Anesthesia Errors

Anesthesia errors are particularly dangerous because even small mistakes can have catastrophic consequences, including permanent brain damage or death. Anesthesiologists must carefully evaluate each patient’s medical history, weight, allergies, and current medications before administering any form of anesthesia.

Common Anesthesia Errors

• Dosage errors: Administering too much anesthesia can cause respiratory failure, cardiac arrest, or brain damage. Too little can result in anesthesia awareness — where the patient wakes up during surgery but cannot move or speak.
• Failure to review patient history: Not checking for conditions like sleep apnea, obesity, or drug allergies that affect anesthesia risk
• Intubation errors: Improperly placing the breathing tube, leading to airway obstruction or aspiration
• Inadequate monitoring: Failing to continuously monitor the patient’s vital signs — heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen levels — during the procedure
• Delayed response to complications: Failing to act quickly when a patient shows signs of an adverse reaction, such as malignant hyperthermia

Medical Malpractice Laws in Georgia and South Carolina

Both Georgia and South Carolina have specific statutes governing medical malpractice claims. Understanding these rules is critical because failure to comply with procedural requirements can result in your case being dismissed.

Georgia Medical Malpractice Laws

• Statute of limitations: You must file a medical malpractice lawsuit within 2 years of the date the injury occurred or was discovered (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-71). There is a 5-year statute of repose — no claim can be filed more than 5 years after the negligent act, regardless of when the injury was discovered.
• Expert affidavit requirement: Georgia requires plaintiffs to file an expert affidavit from a qualified medical professional with the complaint, attesting that at least one negligent act occurred and caused the injury (O.C.G.A. § 9-11-9.1).
• Comparative fault: Georgia applies modified comparative fault — you can recover damages if you are less than 50% at fault (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33). Your award is reduced by your percentage of fault.
• No caps on damages: Georgia struck down its medical malpractice damages cap in 2010 (Atlanta Oculoplastic Surgery, P.C. v. Nestlehutt), so there is currently no statutory limit on non-economic damages.

South Carolina Medical Malpractice Laws

• Statute of limitations: You must file a medical malpractice lawsuit within 3 years from the date of the injury or discovery (S.C. Code § 15-3-545). There is a 6-year statute of repose.
• Pre-suit mediation: South Carolina requires that medical malpractice claims undergo mandatory mediation before a lawsuit can be filed, providing an opportunity for settlement outside of court.
• Expert testimony: Plaintiffs must present expert testimony from a qualified healthcare provider to establish the standard of care and how it was breached.
• Damages caps: South Carolina caps non-economic damages at $350,000 per defendant and $1.05 million total for all defendants (S.C. Code § 15-32-220), adjusted for inflation.

How to Prove a Medical Malpractice Case

Medical malpractice cases are among the most complex personal injury claims because they require detailed medical evidence and expert testimony. To build a strong case, your legal team will typically:

• Obtain and review all medical records: Every chart note, lab result, imaging study, surgical report, and nursing note related to your care
• Retain qualified medical experts: Board-certified physicians in the relevant specialty who can review the records and testify that the standard of care was breached
• Establish causation: Demonstrating that the medical error — not the underlying disease or condition — caused your injury or worsened your outcome
• Document your damages: Calculating current and future medical costs, lost income, diminished earning capacity, and non-economic damages like pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life

Unlike a typical car accident case, where fault may be straightforward, medical malpractice cases often involve competing expert opinions about whether the provider’s conduct fell below the standard of care. This makes having experienced legal representation essential.

How a Medical Malpractice Lawyer Can Help

Medical malpractice claims require significant resources — from medical expert consultations to extensive record review and litigation preparation. Insurance companies and hospital defense teams fight these cases aggressively, often spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to avoid paying claims. An experienced medical malpractice attorney at Roden Law can:

• Evaluate your case with qualified medical experts to determine whether malpractice occurred
• Navigate the complex procedural requirements in Georgia (expert affidavit) and South Carolina (mandatory mediation)
• Handle all aspects of discovery, including depositions of the healthcare providers involved in your care
• Calculate the full scope of your damages — including future medical needs, life care plans, and lost earning capacity
• Negotiate with insurance carriers or take your case to trial to pursue the maximum compensation available

Medical malpractice cases involving wrongful death, brain injuries, or birth injuries often involve substantial damages that can help victims and their families cover a lifetime of medical care and lost income.

At Roden Law, we represent medical malpractice victims across Georgia and South Carolina on a contingency fee basis — you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you. With offices in Savannah, Charleston, Columbia, and Myrtle Beach, our team is prepared to hold negligent healthcare providers accountable.

Call Roden Law today at 1-844-RESULTS or contact us online for a free consultation.

About the Author

Eric Roden

Founding Partner, CEO