Most families assume the biggest threat to a nursing home resident is neglect, not the people hired to provide care. But staff-on-resident abuse happens, and it raises an immediate question beyond the individual wrongdoer: Can the facility itself be held responsible?

In Georgia, the answer is often yes.

How Georgia Law Holds Facilities Accountable

A nursing home doesn’t automatically escape liability just because one employee did the harm. Under O.C.G.A. § 51-2-2, an employer can be held responsible for an employee’s conduct on the job. That’s the starting point, but it’s not the whole picture.

Georgia law lets families go further. They can sue the facility directly for negligent hiring, supervision, training, or retention. These claims focus on what the facility did wrong, not just what the employee did. Did it run a background check? Did it act on prior complaints? Those questions go directly to the facility’s own fault.

The Georgia Supreme Court reinforced this in Quynn v. Hulsey (2020). Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, juries now apportion fault between the abuser and the institution separately. A facility can’t hide behind its employees’ liability to avoid scrutiny of its own decisions.

Georgia’s Bill of Rights for Residents of Long-Term Care Facilities (O.C.G.A. § 31-8-100 et seq.) adds another layer. It gives residents enforceable protections, and violations of those rights can support a civil claim.

What Damages Families Can Pursue

Georgia law offers several categories of recovery. Economic damages cover medical costs, therapy, and relocation to a safer facility. Georgia law also allows recovery for mental pain and suffering in appropriate cases, particularly where the injury itself supports that kind of harm.

When a facility’s conduct rises to willful misconduct or conscious indifference, O.C.G.A. § 51-12-5.1 allows for punitive damages, which are designed to punish the facility and push it to change. Under Georgia’s wrongful death statutes, family members may bring a claim when abuse or neglect leads to a resident’s death.

Contact The Williams Litigation Group About Your Case

Your loved one trusted that facility. If a staff member violated that trust, the nursing home may owe your family more than an apology.

We take nursing home abuse cases across Georgia. Call us at 1-866-214-7036 or reach us through our contact form to talk through what happened.