Lewis v. Wellstar Health System, Inc., No. A26A0119, 2026 WL 1660044, __ S.E.2d __ (Ga. Ct. App. June 9, 2026). The court (Senior Judge C. Andrew Fuller; Doyle, P.J., and Davis, J., concur) affirms summary judgment for the defendant parent health system. The court held that OCGA § 51-2-5.1, governing hospital liability for health care professionals, did not apply because the defendant was the parent company of a separate nonprofit corporation that owned the hospital. Ms.** 2–4. Under traditional respondeat superior principles, the defendant was not vicariously liable because it did not employ, compensate, train, supervise, or control the relevant physicians; those physicians were employed by a subsidiary. Affiliation documents did not create a genuine issue of fact as to the parent's control over the physicians' medical work. Ms.** 4–8.
