Supreme Court of Georgia

Statham v. Quang

May 13, 2025321 Ga. 533

Summary

The court held that the statute protecting medical students from civil liability neither imposes vicarious liability on supervising physicians nor immunizes them from liability otherwise authorized by law. The borrowed servant doctrine is a defense to, not an independent basis for, respondeat superior liability, but the evidence created a jury question whether the physicians assumed control over the student's conduct during surgery. The court therefore reversed the judgment affirming summary judgment for the defendants.