05 LC
14 9019
House
Bill 235
By:
Representatives Keen of the
179th,
Burkhalter of the
50th,
Fleming of the
117th,
Channell of the
116th,
Cooper of the
41st,
and others
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Title 51 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to torts, so
as to provide for certain civil justice reforms with respect to certain health
care liability claims; to state legislative findings and intent; to define
terms; to provide for certain limits on the amount of noneconomic damages which
may be recovered in certain health care liability claims; to provide for other
related matters; to provide for an effective date and applicability; to repeal
conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Title
51 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to torts, is amended by
adding a new Chapter 13 to read as follows:
"CHAPTER
13
51-13-1.
The
General Assembly finds that certain aspects of
Georgiás
current civil justice system are adversely affecting patient access to health
care services, quality patient care, and cost-efficient health care. The General
Assembly further finds that in the public interest, it continues to be the
responsibility of the state to take measures to facilitate an environment which
promotes competition among current health and liability insurers, encourages
additional competitors to enter the market, to contain health insurance and
professional liability insurance costs, and thereby provide reasonable assurance
of affordable health and professional liability insurance for the benefit of all
Georgians. It is the purpose of this chapter to implement reasonable,
comprehensive, and effective health care liability reforms designed
to:
(1)
Improve the availability of health care services in cases in which health care
liability actions have been shown to be a factor in the decreased availability
of services;
(2)
Reduce the incidence of defensive use of unnecessary tests and procedures and
reduce the rate of increase of the future cost of health care liability
insurance, all of which contribute to the escalation of health care
costs;
(3)
Ensure that persons with meritorious health care injury claims receive fair and
equitable compensation, including reasonable noneconomic damages;
and
(4)
Improve the fairness and cost-effectiveness of our current judicial liability
system to resolve disputes over, and provide compensation for, health care
liability by reducing uncertainty in the amount of compensation provided to
injured individuals.
51-13-2.
(a)
As used in this chapter, the term:
(1)
'Affiliate' means a person who, directly or indirectly through one or more
intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with a
specified person, including any direct or indirect parent or
subsidiary.
(2)
'Claimant' means a person, including a
decedent́s
estate, who seeks or has sought recovery of damages in a health care liability
claim. All persons claiming to have sustained damages as the result of the
bodily injury or death of a single person are considered a single
claimant.
(3)
'Control' means the possession, directly or indirectly, of the power to direct
or cause the direction of the management and policies of the person, whether
through ownership of equity or securities, by contract, or
otherwise.
(4)
'Health care' means any act or treatment performed or furnished, or that should
have been performed or furnished, by any health care provider for, to, or on
behalf of a patient during the
patient́s
medical care, treatment, or confinement.
(5)
'Health care institution' means:
(A)
An ambulatory surgical center;
(B)
A personal care home licensed under Chapter 7 of Title 31;
(C)
An institution providing emergency medical services;
(D)
A hospice;
(E)
A hospital;
(F)
A hospital system;
(G)
An intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded;
(H)
A nursing home; or
(I)
An affiliate of any of the foregoing.
(6)
'Health care liability claim' means a cause of action against a health care
provider or physician for treatment, lack of treatment, or other claimed
departure from accepted standards of medical care, health care, or safety or
professional or administrative services directly related to health care, which
departure from standards proximately results in injury to or death of a
claimant.
(7)
'Health care provider' means:
(A)
Any person, partnership, professional association, corporation, facility, or
institution duly licensed, certified, registered, or chartered by the State of
Georgia to provide health care, including but not limited to:
(i)
A registered nurse;
(ii)
A dentist;
(iii)
A podiatrist;
(iv)
A pharmacist;
(v)
A chiropractor;
(vi)
An optometrist; or
(vii)
A health care institution; and
(B)
Any person who is:
(i)
An officer, director, shareholder, member, partner, manager, owner, or affiliate
of a health care provider or physician; or
(ii)
An employee, independent contractor, or agent of a health care provider or
physician acting in the course and scope of the employment or contractual
relationship.
(8)
'Hospice' means a facility licensed as such under the 'Georgia Hospice Law,'
Article 9 of Chapter 7 of Title 31.
(9)
'Hospital' means a facility licensed as such under Chapter 7 of Title
31.
(10)
'Hospital system' means a system of hospitals located in this state that are
under the common governance or control of a corporate parent.
(11)
'Medical care' means any act defined as the practice of medicine under Code
Section 43-34-20.
(12)
'Noneconomic damages' means damages for physical and emotional pain, discomfort,
anxiety, hardship, distress, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment,
mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of society and
companionship, loss of consortium, and injury to reputation.
(13)
'Nursing home' means a facility licensed as such under Chapter 7 of Title
31.
(14)
'Pharmacist' means a person licensed as such under Chapter 4 of Title
26.
(15)
'Physician' means an individual licensed to practice medicine in this state, a
professional association organized by an individual physician or group of
physicians, a partnership or limited liability partnership formed by a group of
physicians, or a professional corporation or limited liability corporation
comprised of physicians.
(16)
'Professional or administrative services' means those duties or services that a
physician or health care provider is required to provide as a condition of
maintaining the
physiciańs
or health care
provideŕs
license, accreditation status, or certification to participate in state or
federal health care programs.
(b)
Any legal term or word of art used in this chapter, not otherwise defined in
this chapter, shall have such meaning as is consistent with the common
law.
51-13-3.
(a)
In an action on a health care liability claim where final judgment is rendered
against a physician or health care provider other than a health care
institution, the limit of civil liability for noneconomic damages of the
physician or health care provider other than a health care institution,
inclusive of all persons and entities for which vicarious liability theories may
apply, shall be limited to an amount not to exceed $250,000.00 for each
claimant, regardless of the number of defendant physicians or health care
providers other than a health care institution against whom the claim is
asserted or the number of separate causes of action on which the claim is
based.
(b)
In an action on a health care liability claim where final judgment is rendered
against a single health care institution, the limit of civil liability for
noneconomic damages, inclusive of all persons and entities for which vicarious
liability theories may apply, shall be limited to an amount not to exceed
$250,000.00 for each claimant.
(c)
In an action on a health care liability claim where final judgment is rendered
against more than one health care institution, the limit of civil liability for
noneconomic damages for each health care institution, inclusive of all persons
and entities for which vicarious liability theories may apply, shall be limited
to an amount not to exceed $250,000.00 for each claimant and the limit of civil
liability for noneconomic damages for all health care institutions, inclusive of
all persons and entities for which vicarious liability theories may apply, shall
be limited to an amount not to exceed $750,000.00 for each claimant, regardless
of the number of defendant health care institutions against whom the claim is
asserted or the number of separate causes of action on which the claim is
based..
(d)
Subsections (a) through (c) of this Code section do not apply to the amount of
damages awarded on a health care liability claim for special damages; loss of
income; the expenses of necessary medical, hospital, and custodial care received
before judgment or required in the future for treatment of the injury; and
punitive
damages."
SECTION
2.
This
Act shall become effective July 1, 2005, and shall apply with respect to causes
of action arising on or after that date. Prior causes of action shall be
governed by prior law.
SECTION
3.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.