GOVERNMENT & MEDICINE

Georgia liability bill falls short in doctors' eyes

Physicians plan to press for more changes during the next legislative session.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. May 19, 2003.

Georgia's Legislature passed tort reform in late April, but doctors there aren't cheering.

The medical community is focussed on what wasn't included in the bill, instead of what did reach the governor's desk.

The legislation doesn't cap noneconomic damages at $250,000 -- a provision physicians and hospitals say is crucial in bringing down medical liability costs.

It doesn't require that money a plaintiff received from an insurance company or other source be taken into account when a jury awards damages.

It doesn't allow doctors to be held accountable only for their portion of the damages. And it doesn't limit liability for physicians who provide emergency trauma services.

"The Legislature failed to act," said David A. Cook, Medical Assn. of Georgia's executive director. "We are going to see physicians changing their scope of practice and leaving the state."

A recent survey of physicians by the Georgia Board of Physician Workforce showed that 2% of Georgia doctors planned to stop practicing in the state because of medical liability insurance rates. More than 11% of physicians surveyed said they planned to no longer take call in the emergency department, and one-third of obstetricians and radiologists said they planned to stop seeing high-risk patients.

Georgia is one of 18 states the AMA says is in the midst of a medical liability insurance crisis because physicians are retiring early, discontinuing high-risk services or leaving the state to practice elsewhere.

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