MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
Let plaintiffs choose
manner of recourse
The debate over Georgia’s proposed Patients’ Compensation System, which resembles workers compensation, versus the existing medical malpractice approach is usually presented as an “either/or” choice (Opinion, Feb. 23). A middle ground may be possible.
Suppose the proposed PCS law offered (and even required) that those seeking compensation for medical malpractice choose which path is used, on a case-by-case basis. Any plaintiff who chooses traditional litigation would be barred from seeking compensation under PCS. Conversely, anyone choosing PCS would be barred from seeking compensation by traditional litigation. The choice would be made the instant a party files a claim under either system, and that choice would be irrevocable.
This approach allows us to see how each system compares against the other in real life, without forcing one system or the other on malpractice victims.
BILL FOKES, BRASELTON
NUCLEAR ENERGY
Vogtle work ensures
choice in fuel sources
The interpretation that a nuclear revival is stalled despite progress on Vogtle misses some points (“Vogtle is progressing but nuclear revival is not,” ajc.com, Feb. 17). As the NRC has said, no plants will have their licenses held up by the new considerations for used-fuel disposal. As for natural gas cutting into the market for nuclear plants, we have seen tremendous volatility in gas prices over the decades, and no utility will bet its system on only natural gas. There is a mix of energy sources that protects the consumer from problems with any single fuel type.
As a caution, there is a good deal of momentum to export more liquefied natural gas, and a recent report commissioned by the Department of Energy shows that such exports will significantly raise the price of gas. As is noted, future nuclear plant construction will look to the success of the Georgia and South Carolina plants. But to extend that to declaring there is no future for nuclear energy is a stretch.
NOLAN HERTEL, PROFESSOR, NUCLEAR & RADIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING, GEORGIA TECH
HEALTH CARE
Deal should rethink
refusal on Medicaid
Citing potential budget reasons over the next decade, our omnipotent Republican Gov. Deal has again refused to extend Medicaid coverage to at least 650,000 Georgians (“Deal firm on state Medicaid for now,” News, Feb. 22). He persists in denying this needed coverage even though seven other Republican governors are now participating. This is an outrage, and our Congress should demand he reconsider. This anti-Obama objection needs to cease. Do what is right for our state.
JIM HOPE, DORAVILLE
LEGISLATURE
Many contradictions
in lawmakers’ actions
Our legislators are hilarious. They pass bills telling MARTA how to run its business while contributing nothing to its operation. They devise ethics bills that tell lobbyists what to do when ethics is an individual concern. To have an ethics bill is simple: “I, my family and my relatives will not accept anything from a person who has a vested interest in a bill before or to be proposed to the legislative system.” Legislators also propose gun laws for the public’s protection and brag about how they must carry guns in public for self-protection — then, to protect themselves, have detectors and screeners (at the public’s expense) to keep themselves safe in the gun-bearing legislative areas.
ROBERT P. LYNCH, JONESBORO
