Atlanta trial lawyers challenge the constitutionality of gross negligence standard in emergency room medical malpractice cases
The Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments this week about whether to uphold a Georgia law which requires a plaintiff to establish gross negligence in order to prove medical malpractice in emergency rooms.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution has the story.
Georgia recently passed a wave of "tort reform" laws aimed at making it harder to sue doctors. One such law raised the level of culpability that an injured emergency room patient must prove to hold a doctor liable from negligence to gross negligence. Gross negligence is extremely difficult to prove. It has been described as being the conscious and voluntary disregard of the need to use reasonable care which is likely to cause foreseeable grave injury. For ordinary negligence, a plaintiff only has to prove that a doctor failed to exercise ordinary care.
On Tuesday, the Georgia Supreme Court heard both sides make their cases. Atlanta attorney Michael Terry argued that the law was made for medical corporations and insurance companies that had lobbied the state legislature for special benefits. He also argued that the law virtually eliminates all ER medical malpractice claims and gives hospitals an inequitable advantage. One of the attorneys for the other side, Wade Copeland, argued that the Legislature wanted to attract and keep the best doctors, and that this legislation accomplishes that goal.
The Court should issue its decision within a few months.
Pate & Brody is an accomplished Georgia law firm with offices in Atlanta, Macon and Madison. Our lawyers are dedicated to pursuing justice for crime victims, people who have been defrauded by deceptive business practices, or injured through the fault of others. Our lawyers have been recognized on the list of Georgia's "Super Lawyers", and included among Georgia's "Legal Elite" by Georgia Trend Magazine.
