Day on Torts
Georgia’s med mal statute requires that when a complaint is filed the plaintiff must submit a medical authorization. The statute says that "the authorization shall provide that the attorney representing the defendant is authorized to obtain and disclose protected health information contained in medical records to facilitate the investigation, evaluation, and defense of the claims and allegations set forth in the complaint which pertain to the plaintiff or, where applicable, the plaintiff’s decedent whose treatment is at issue in the complaint. This authorization includes the defendant’s attorney’s right to discuss the care and treatment of the plaintiff or, where applicable, the plaintiff’s decedent with all of the plaintiff’s or decedent’s treating physicians."
On May 14, 1007 in the case of Allen v. Wright, the Georgia Supreme Court struck down this statute as inconsistent with HIPPA.
Read the opinion here.