News in brief - March 15, 2004

Pa. lawmakers consider patient tax - Georgia committee passes tort reform; doctors find fault with bills - Fight continues against government request for abortion files - Oklahoma doctors rally for tort reform

Pa. lawmakers consider patient tax

The Pennsylvania House Republican Policy Committee in February heard testimony examining whether the Legislature should tax patient care. The goal is to generate more sales tax so the state can reduce school personal property tax. The Pennsylvania Medical Society told lawmakers the tax would increase health care costs and create more paperwork hassles for doctors.

Georgia committee passes tort reform; doctors find fault with bills

Members of the Georgia House Judiciary Committee passed three tort reform bills in late February, but the Medical Assn. of Georgia said the measures fall short.

MAG said the bill to strengthen expert witness requirements contains too many loopholes; the measure that would insulate hospitals from liability when an independent contracting physician provides services does not address the crisis of diminishing trauma care; and the legislation addressing frivolous lawsuits provides some sanctions for lawyers but does nothing to stop the lawsuits from entering the system.

Georgia is one of 19 states the AMA identifies as being in the middle of a liability insurance crisis.

Fight continues against government request for abortion files

Planned Parenthood is fighting government requests to turn over patients' abortion records. The organization last year sued the government in federal court to try to stop a law known as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act from going into effect.

The group claims that the law, which bans physicians from performing intact dilatation and extraction, is illegal because it doesn't include an exception for medical necessity. The government argues that the procedure isn't medically necessary and says it needs the medical charts to defend that position.

In addition to the Planned Parenthood suit, about a dozen physicians and the National Abortion Federation filed in federal courts last year to stop the law. Those individuals and some medical facilities also are fighting the request for medical records.

Oklahoma doctors rally for tort reform

More than 2,000 Oklahoma physicians, office staff members and others rallied at the state Capitol in late February to let lawmakers know that they need to pass tort reform to ensure that patients will continue to have access to physicians.

Oklahoma is one of the 25 states the American Medical Association says is showing signs of a brewing medical liability insurance problem. AMA Board of Trustees Chair-elect J. James Rohack, MD, joined Oklahoma physicians in their call for reform. "Oklahoma can stem the tide of this impending crisis," he said.

The state enacted some tort reform in 2003, but the Oklahoma State Medical Assn. is calling for additional changes, including measures to eliminate frivolous lawsuits.