Groups Call Medical Malpractice Law A "Failure"

Two groups now say a controversial tort reform law is a failure. This, on the one-year anniversary of the law, which places a $350,000 cap on malpractice pain and suffering awards, and makes it difficult to sue if the malpractice takes place in an emergency room. Georgiawatch and the AARP say the reform has not decreased doctors' insurance premiums as expected. And, the groups say it has made it it hard for people like John Dinda, who almost died in an emergency room. "We called a lawyer and basically he says forget it. You got no chance of doing anything," Dinda tells Channel 2 Action News. Senator Preston Smith, who sponsored the bill, says seven new insurance companies are now underwriting malpractice premiums because of the law, and he says, given time, premiums will fall for doctors.