To file a complaint against a doctor in Georgia, submit a complaint to the Georgia Composite Medical Board (GCMB) through its online portal or by mail to the Board’s Enforcement Unit in Atlanta. The Board can investigate the physician and impose discipline up to license revocation, but it cannot order the doctor to pay you anything. There is no deadline to file.
What to Have Ready Before You File
The Board asks you to complete every section of the complaint form, and it says that the more detail you provide, the faster the case moves.1Georgia Composite Medical Board. Filing a Complaint Pull the following together first:
- Your full name, address, phone number, and email.
- The doctor’s full name and practice address.
- A timeline with the dates of each appointment, procedure, or incident at issue.
- A clear, factual written description of what happened and why you believe it violated professional standards.
- Supporting documents: relevant medical records, billing statements, prescription records, correspondence with the doctor’s office, and contact information for any witnesses.
You have a federal right to electronic access to your own health records, and providers cannot charge you for electronic copies. If the office stalls or refuses, that itself may be worth including in the complaint.
How to Submit the Complaint
The faster route is the online complaint portal on the GCMB website, which walks you through the required fields and lets you upload your documents.1Georgia Composite Medical Board. Filing a Complaint A paper form is also available in English and Spanish.
If you mail it in, send the form to:
Georgia Composite Medical Board
Enforcement Unit
2 Peachtree Street, N.W., 6th Floor
Atlanta, Georgia 303032Georgia Composite Medical Board. How to File a Professional’s Complaint
Keep copies of everything you submit and hold onto any confirmation numbers. Write “N/A” in any section that does not apply rather than leaving it blank.
There is no statutory deadline for filing with the Board, but its own guidance warns that evidence gets harder to gather as time passes.3Georgia Composite Medical Board. Frequently Asked Questions for Consumers File while records are fresh and witnesses still remember.
Anonymous Complaints
The Board generally will not accept an anonymous complaint. The only exceptions are cases where the physician poses an immediate danger to the public and cases involving a patient’s death, and even then the Board must have enough standalone evidence to proceed without being able to contact you for follow-up.4Georgia Composite Medical Board. How Do I File a Complaint Against a Doctor or Hospital
What the Board Will and Won’t Investigate
The GCMB enforces the Georgia Medical Practice Act. Complaints that fit its jurisdiction typically involve:
- Substandard medical care that falls below the minimum accepted standard.
- Missed, delayed, or incorrect diagnoses and other medical errors.
- Inappropriate or excessive prescribing, especially of controlled substances.
- Unprofessional or unethical conduct, including misrepresenting credentials, violating patient confidentiality, or billing for services never provided.
- Sexual assault or any sexual boundary violation by a provider.5Georgia Composite Medical Board. File a Complaint
Georgia law also lets the Board discipline a physician for conduct harmful to the public even when no patient was actually injured, and for fraud, felony convictions, impairing substance abuse, and keeping professional ties with unlicensed people practicing medicine.6Justia Law. Georgia Code 43-34-8 – Authority to Refuse License or Discipline Person Regulated
Complaints that boil down to a rude bedside manner or a bad outcome, without any underlying negligence, will not trigger an investigation. The Board enforces professional standards; it does not mediate disagreements about how an appointment felt or whether a treatment worked.
What Happens After You File
Your complaint moves through a structured review.7Georgia Composite Medical Board. Frequently Asked Questions about Complaints
- Acknowledgment. You receive a letter or email confirming receipt, usually within two weeks.
- Initial review. Board staff decide whether what you describe could violate the Medical Practice Act. If not, the case is closed and you are notified. The physician is still told about the complaint, and it stays on file.
- Investigation. If a possible violation exists, a copy of your complaint is sent to the physician for a response. The Board may obtain medical records and contact you for clarification. Your written complaint usually serves as your full statement.
- Case review. Medical and non-medical staff evaluate the evidence and decide whether discipline is warranted. This stage alone can take six months or longer.
You can ask for a status update at any time by phone or in writing, and the Board will notify you when it reaches a final decision. If your complaint falls entirely outside the Board’s jurisdiction, you will be told by mail.8Georgia Composite Medical Board. Will I Be Told the Status of My Complaint
What Discipline the Board Can Impose
If the investigation finds a violation, the Board’s options run from a private reprimand to permanent license revocation.9Georgia Secretary of State. Georgia Rules and Regulations Chapter 360-3 – Investigations and Discipline Available sanctions include private reprimands, public reprimands, fines, license restrictions or limitations, suspension for a defined period, and revocation. Certain final disciplinary actions also become part of the physician’s permanent public profile, visible to future patients and employers.10Georgia Secretary of State. Georgia Rules and Regulations 360-28 – Physician Profiles
If no violation is found, the complaint is dismissed. Dismissed complaints still stay in the Board’s internal files, and multiple complaints about the same physician can flag a pattern later.
If You Want Money, You Need a Lawsuit
The Board process and a malpractice lawsuit are separate tracks. The GCMB can discipline a doctor; only a civil court can award damages for medical bills, lost income, or pain and suffering. You can pursue both at once, and filing one does not affect the other.
Two deadlines matter if a lawsuit is on the table. First, you generally have two years from the date of injury to file a medical malpractice case in Georgia, with a hard outer limit of five years from the negligent act no matter when you discovered the harm.11Justia Law. Georgia Code 9-3-71 – General Limitation Missing that deadline ends the right to sue, even though it has no effect on your ability to file with the Board.
Second, Georgia requires an expert affidavit filed at the same time as the malpractice complaint. A qualified medical expert must sign it and identify at least one specific negligent act with its factual basis. Without the affidavit, the court will dismiss the case.12Justia Law. Georgia Code 9-11-9.1 – Affidavit to Accompany Charge of Professional Malpractice If you are considering a claim, talk to a medical malpractice attorney early enough to secure that expert.
If the Problem Is Privacy, File with OCR Instead
Complaints specifically about mishandling of your private health information go to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR), not the GCMB. Anyone can file a HIPAA complaint, whether the violation happened to you or someone else, and OCR accepts complaints through its online portal or by mail.13HHS.gov. Filing a Health Information Privacy Complaint You have 180 days from when you learned of the violation to file, though OCR can waive that for good cause.14HHS.gov. If I Believe That My Privacy Rights Have Been Violated, When Can I Submit a Complaint If the same situation involves both substandard care and a privacy violation, file with both agencies.