• Government
• Profession
• Business
• Opinion
• Health

• Health reform
• H1N1
• P4P
• EMRs
• Medicare
• Liability
• AMA House
• » More

• Book Excerpt
• Business Pitch
• Meetings
• » More

• Contract Language
• Ethics Forum
• In the Courts
• Practice Management
• Technically Speaking
• » More

• Issue dates
• Regions
• Health plans
• Sections
• News briefs
• Columns
• Editorials
• Letters
• Writers
• Other years

• Search tips
• E-mail alert
• Radio
• RSS
• Mobile
• Subscribe
• Institutions
• Staff directory
• Advertising
• Permissions
• Reprints
• News media
• Site guide
• Useful links
• About
• Premium
• Contact

Georgia enacts tort reform package

The measure limits noneconomic damages, and includes patient safety components and protection for emergency physicians.

By Mike Norbut, amednews staff. March 7, 2005.

• PRINT|
• E-MAIL|
• RESPOND|
• REPRINTS|
• SHARE

Three years of fighting for tort reform has finally borne fruit for Georgia doctors, who celebrated the passage last month of legislation that sets a $350,000 cap on noneconomic damages in medical liability lawsuits.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue signed the bill into law Feb. 16 -- a move physicians say will help create better access for patients and help improve care. The state is one of 20 the AMA has declared to be in crisis because of rising medical liability insurance premiums. While some physicians were retiring early, others were forced to discontinue high-risk procedures or leave the state, leaving some areas of Georgia with very little coverage.

"I would like to tell doctors to come back to Georgia, or to come to Georgia," said Medical Assn. of Georgia President John Antalis, MD, a family physician and geriatrician from Dalton. "With this, we now have the ability to hold down liability costs."

This is the first time a tort reform bill has passed in Georgia with a noneconomic damages cap, Dr. Antalis said. The legislation initially passed through Georgia's Senate with a $250,000 limit, but an amendment was added in the House that changed the cap to $350,000.

MAG was willing to accept the higher cap because "for physicians, it will still provide meaningful relief," said David Cook, the association's executive director.

The state's primary medical liability insurance provider, MAG Mutual Insurance Co., has pledged to roll back premiums now that noneconomic damages will be capped, Cook said. The physician-owned company is independent of the medical association.