Georgia residents are overwhelmingly opposed to a bill that would restrict their access to medical malpractice damages. They’re also strongly in favor of holding nursing homes accountable for the neglect and abuse of residents.
Those are the results of a new survey conducted by the Public Policy Polling Institute, which found that residents across seven states are overwhelmingly in opposition to HR 1215. The recently introduced bill seeks to limit noneconomic damages available in cases involving medical malpractice and nursing home abuse. The bill would also cover any damages from lawsuits related to malfunctioning or defective medical devices, as well as pharmaceutical company drug-related lawsuits.
The Public Policy Polling survey specifically focused on residents living in seven states: Florida, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Utah and Arizona. These are states that are either red (Republican) or purple (have voted Republican or Democrat in the past few years). Typically, voters who live in red or purple states favor restrictions on medical malpractice damages.
That is the theory.
However, the report found that residents overwhelmingly opposed HR 1215. In Georgia, 68% of the respondents in the survey indicated their opposition to HR 1215. When it came to nursing home abuse and neglect, residents were even more zealous in their opposition to any legislation that would reduce their ability to seek compensation and damages in court. As many as 88% of the respondents believed that nursing homes should be held legally and financially accountable for any incidents of abuse and neglect on their premises. Every year, our nursing home abuse and hospital medical malpractice lawyers see serious injuries, sometimes fatal ones, as a result of negligent or intentional conduct by nursing home staff.
One of the most interesting facts that emerge out of the Public Policy Polling Survey is that opposition to HR 1215 is consistent, regardless of the person’s political views. Whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, your access to financial damages in medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, and pharmaceutical/medical device-related lawsuits is at risk with HR 1215.
Fortunately, as the results of the PPP survey show, Americans, regardless of whether they vote red or blue, are firmly in opposition to any law that would eliminate or reduce their rights to financial compensation after suffering injuries as a result of medical or nursing home negligence.