Georgia: MD’s Derogatory Comment in Report That Claimant Was Threat Found Privileged, Not Libelous

A dictated statement by a treating physician that became part of the injured worker’s claim file that said the worker had communicated threats to the physician, through an interpreter, and that the physician considered the worker to be a threat to both the physician and his staff was privileged; it could not be the basis of a libel action filed by the worker against the doctor, held a Georgia court. The appellate indicated that the physician’s statements in the worker’s official medical record were both pertinent and material to the workers’ compensation claim and were not libelous, as a matter of law.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Jasarevic v. Foster, 2016 Ga. App. LEXIS 26 (Jan. 26, 2016) [2016 Ga. App. LEXIS 26 (Jan. 26, 2016)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 112.02 [112.02]

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see http://www.workcompwriter.com/georgia-m-d-s-medical-report-indicating-claimant-was-threat-to-doctor-and-staff-not-libelous/

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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