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Is a chart error considered a breach of duty under Georgia malpractice statutes?

Published November 7, 2026
No. 156 of 195 in this folder

Filed in Georgia Medical Malpractice FAQ

Last updated: November 7, 2026. Georgia law changes; check the date before relying on any deadline or rule below.

Sometimes. No Georgia statute declares chart errors a breach. A charting mistake is a breach of the professional standard when careful providers in that field would have documented correctly and the documentation was part of the patient’s care (O.C.G.A. § 51-1-27). Minor documentation flaws that affected no decision are not a breach that supports a claim. Some purely clerical charting errors are ordinary negligence rather than professional negligence.

When documentation is part of care

Charting is not only record-keeping. In a hospital or clinic, the chart is how care is delivered between people:

the medication allergy list a pharmacist and nurse rely on;
the nursing assessment the next shift relies on;
the physician’s plan that tells the team what to do;
the result flag that tells the ordering provider to act.

When an entry in one of these roles is wrong or missing, and a careful provider would have entered it correctly, an expert can describe that as a breach (§ 24-7-702).

When it is not a breach that matters

Documentation flaw	Why it is not, by itself, an actionable breach
A late but accurate entry	Late entries can be legitimate when dated and explained
A spelling or formatting error	No effect on care
An incomplete note when care itself was correct	The care, not the note, is what the standard measures
An inconsistency caught before any decision	No reliance, no harm

Poor documentation can still matter as evidence. If the chart does not show an assessment, the provider may have difficulty proving it was done.

Professional or clerical

Georgia courts treat administrative or clerical acts that involve no professional judgment as ordinary negligence, without the expert affidavit requirement (Upson County Hospital v. Head, 2000). A clinician’s assessment entry involves professional judgment; a filing step by non-clinical staff may not. The answer depends on the act.

Breach still needs causation

A charting breach supports a claim only if it more likely than not caused an injury (Zwiren v. Thompson, 2003), and only if the claim is filed within two years of the injury and five years of the act (§ 9-3-71).

Find the decision made on the bad entry

Find the decision that was made on the bad entry. If there is one, and it hurt you, the charting error may be a breach worth an expert’s review. If there is none, the error is evidence, not a claim.

This article explains Georgia law in general terms. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines in malpractice cases are short and fact-specific, so talk to a Georgia lawyer about your own situation.