Chiropractic Injuries in Georgia: When Spinal Manipulation Goes Wrong

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A patient hurt during chiropractic care faces several statutory questions before fault is reached: how the Code defines the practice, which standard-of-care provision reaches a chiropractor, whether an expert affidavit must accompany the complaint, who may sign it, which deadline applies, and whether the statutory informed-consent regime covers manipulation. The Supreme Court of Georgia has answered the last question: chiropractic treatment is outside the informed-consent statute, and Georgia recognizes no common law duty to disclose treatment risks.

How the Code Defines Chiropractic

OCGA 43-9-1(2) defines “chiropractic” as “the adjustment of the articulations of the human body, including ilium, sacrum, and coccyx, and the use of X-ray, provided that the X-ray shall not be used for therapeutical purposes.” The definition continues that “the term shall not include the use of drugs or surgery,” and that the adjustment “may only be administered by a doctor of chiropractic authorized to do so by the provisions of this chapter,” although the section “shall not prevent any other health care provider from administering techniques authorized within their scope of practice.”

Which Standard of Care Applies

Two provisions frame the standard. A person professing to practice surgery or the administering of medicine for compensation must bring a reasonable degree of care and skill to the profession, and an injury resulting from a want of that care and skill is a tort (OCGA 51-1-27). Ordinary diligence is the care that ordinarily prudent persons use under the same or similar circumstances (OCGA 51-1-2). The definition of chiropractic excludes drugs and surgery, while OCGA 51-1-27 speaks of surgery and the administering of medicine.

Georgia’s informed-consent statute applies, by its terms, to “any surgical procedure under general anesthesia, spinal anesthesia, or major regional anesthesia,” to “an amniocentesis diagnostic procedure,” and to “a diagnostic procedure which involves the intravenous or intraductal injection of a contrast material” (OCGA 31-9-6.1(a)). A failure to comply “shall not constitute a separate cause of action but may give rise to an action for medical malpractice as defined in Code Section 9-3-70” (OCGA 31-9-6.1(d)).

In Blotner v. Doreika, 285 Ga. 481 (2009), the Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a Court of Appeals decision that had applied a common law informed-consent doctrine to a chiropractor. It held that Georgia recognizes no common law duty to inform patients of the material risks of a treatment, that chiropractic treatment is not among the matters for which OCGA 31-9-6.1 requires consent, and that the legislature has not otherwise required informed consent for chiropractic.

The Expert Affidavit

A professional malpractice complaint against a professional listed in OCGA 9-11-9.1(g) must be filed with an expert affidavit setting out at least one negligent act or omission and the factual basis for each claim (OCGA 9-11-9.1(a)), and subsection (g)(5) lists chiropractors.

Several rules follow from the text:

  • Limitation exception. The contemporaneous-filing requirement does not apply where the limitation period will expire, or there is a good faith basis to believe it will expire, within ten days of filing and, because of time constraints, the plaintiff alleges the affidavit could not be prepared; in that case, if the plaintiff’s attorney files an affidavit that the firm “was not retained by the plaintiff more than 90 days prior to the expiration of the period of limitation,” “the plaintiff shall have 45 days after the filing of the complaint to supplement the pleadings with the affidavit” (OCGA 9-11-9.1(b)).
  • Defective affidavit. If a defendant moves to dismiss because the affidavit is defective, the plaintiff may cure the defect by amendment within 30 days of service of the motion (OCGA 9-11-9.1(e)).
  • No affidavit. If a plaintiff fails to file the affidavit and the defendant raises the failure by motion to dismiss with its initial responsive pleading, “such complaint shall not be subject to the renewal provisions of Code Section 9-2-61 after the expiration of the applicable period of limitation, unless a court determines that the plaintiff had the requisite affidavit within the time required by this Code section and the failure to file the affidavit was the result of a mistake” (OCGA 9-11-9.1(f)).

Who May Sign It

In professional malpractice actions, an expert’s opinions are admissible only if, at the time of the alleged act or omission, the expert “[w]as licensed by an appropriate regulatory agency to practice his or her profession in the state in which such expert was practicing or teaching in the profession at such time” (OCGA 24-7-702(c)(1)). In a medical malpractice action, the expert must also have had actual professional knowledge and experience in the area of practice at issue through active practice or teaching for at least three of the last five years, and, subject to alternatives for osteopaths and an exception for physicians who supervise certain staff, must be a member of the same profession as the defendant (OCGA 24-7-702(c)(2)(A), (B), (C)(i), (D)).

Deadlines

The medical malpractice limitation statutes apply to claims arising out of health, medical, dental, or surgical service, diagnosis, treatment, or care rendered by a person authorized by law to perform it (OCGA 9-3-70). An action for medical malpractice must be brought within two years after the injury or death arising from the negligent act or omission, and in no event more than five years after the act or omission itself, the first being a statute of limitations and the second a statute of ultimate repose (OCGA 9-3-71(a) through (c)).

For example, imagine an act alleged to be negligent on March 1, 2026, with the injury the same day. If OCGA 9-3-71 governs, the two-year period would end March 1, 2028, and the five-year outer limit would fall on March 1, 2031.

Frequently Asked Questions

Must a chiropractor answer a patient’s questions about risks truthfully?
Blotner, quoting Albany Urology Clinic, P.C. v. Cleveland, 272 Ga. 296 (2000), recognized that a provider has a common law duty to answer truthfully a patient’s questions about medical or procedural risks, even though there is no general duty to volunteer them.

Is chiropractic treated like acupuncture for informed consent?
No. In Blotner, the Supreme Court contrasted chiropractic with acupuncture, for which the legislature has set informed consent requirements (OCGA 43-34-68).

Does the malpractice damages cap statute reach chiropractors?
Its definition of “health care provider” includes persons licensed under Chapter 9 of Title 43, the chapter where the chiropractic definition appears, and it limits noneconomic damages in medical malpractice actions against health care providers to $350,000.00; Atlanta Oculoplastic Surgery, P.C. v. Nestlehutt, 286 Ga. 731 (2010), held the cap cannot be applied to pain and suffering and loss of consortium without violating the right to a jury trial, and the Court stood by that holding in Clark v. Leigh, 324 Ga. 733 (2026) (OCGA 51-13-1(a)(2), (b)).

Must the expert who signs the affidavit meet the trial-expert standard?
Yes. In all civil proceedings, an affiant must meet the requirements of OCGA 24-7-702 to be deemed qualified to testify as an expert by means of the OCGA 9-11-9.1 affidavit (OCGA 24-7-702(e)).

  • OCGA 43-9-1(2)
  • OCGA 51-1-27; OCGA 51-1-2
  • OCGA 31-9-6.1(a), (d); Blotner v. Doreika, 285 Ga. 481 (2009); Albany Urology Clinic, P.C. v. Cleveland, 272 Ga. 296 (2000) (as quoted in Blotner); OCGA 43-34-68 (as cited in Blotner)
  • OCGA 9-11-9.1(a), (b), (e), (f), (g)(5)
  • OCGA 24-7-702(c), (e)
  • OCGA 9-3-70; OCGA 9-3-71
  • OCGA 51-13-1(a)(2), (b); Atlanta Oculoplastic Surgery, P.C. v. Nestlehutt, 286 Ga. 731 (2010); Clark v. Leigh, 324 Ga. 733 (2026)

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about chiropractic injury claims under Georgia law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Whether a claim is subject to the medical malpractice provisions, which deadlines apply, and who may serve as an expert depend on the specific facts. A person injured during chiropractic care should consult a licensed Georgia attorney promptly about the particular situation.

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