Georgia ER Liability Shield Upheld

The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the state’s 2005 tort reform legislation that limits the liability of emergency room medical care providers.

The 4-3 ruling turned aside complaints that the law is unconstitutional because it gives special liability exemption to emergency medical care providers, despite general laws governing negligence claims that apply to all other health care professionals. The Georgia Constitution prohibits special laws that are not applied uniformly throughout the state and when general laws on the same issue already exist.

But in the high court opinion in Gliemmo v. Cousineau, written by Justice George Carley, the majority found that the statute is a “general law,” as opposed to a “special law,” and therefore passes constitutional muster.

The ER Statue, as the law is known, states that certain emergency health care providers cannot be held liable unless there is “clear and convincing evidence” they were grossly negligent.

The court has found a statute to be a special law where it deals with a limited activity in a specific industry during a limited time frame but said the ER Statute “is not a special law affecting only a limited activity in a specific industry during a limited time frame.” It is a general law because it operates uniformly upon all health care liability claims arising from emergency medical care as provided in the statute, the court said.