John Seay died after bleeding from the site of a dialysis treatment. His estate and children sued medical providers for wrongful death, but Seay’s widow was not initially a plaintiff. After the two-year limitations period had expired, the plaintiffs sought to add or substitute the widow. The trial court granted summary judgment to some defendants on standing grounds and denied it to others. The Georgia Court of Appeals held that the wrongful-death claim belonged to Seay’s widow as the surviving spouse, and that the existing plaintiffs could not maintain the claim without her. Because the widow’s later effort to intervene did not relate back to the timely complaint, the claim against the physician and nursing defendants was time-barred. The court reversed the judgment insofar as it rested on an incorrect standing analysis, vacated the remaining ruling, and dismissed the related cross-appeal as moot. The case illustrates how standing, substitution, intervention, and the statute of limitations interact in a wrongful-death action.