The proposal to revamp Georgia’s medical malpractice system appears heading for a showdown in the upcoming General Assembly session.

Senate Bill 141 would set up a system something like workers’ comp, with injured patients getting access to an independent medical review panel that would rule on the merits of their claims. (In a previous GHN Commentary, Dr. Henry N. Goodwin Jr., an Augusta urologist, pushed for this revamp.)

A new Commentary, from the president of the Medical Association of Georgia, takes the opposite view.

Dr. William E. Silver writes that the legislation is “nothing more than a new tax – one that would be levied on physicians and hospitals (in the form of a ‘bed tax’) and other health care providers.”

Here’s a link to Silver’s Commentary.

Georgia Health News welcomes Commentary submissions. If you would like to propose a Commentary piece for Georgia Health News, please email Andy Miller, editor of GHN, at amiller@georgiahealthnews.com