According to estimates, approximately 700 people in Georgia are killed every year because they lacked immediate access to emergency trauma care. Many of these people were injured in catastrophic accidents, and sustained serious injuries that could not be treated without the facilities available at a trauma center. The first hour after a person suffers serious injuries is the “golden hour,” and if the person receives emergency care during this time, his chances of surviving the accident or injuries increase substantially. Unfortunately, many people who are involved in auto accidents in Georgia cannot be taken to an emergency trauma care center in time because there is not one close enough to them.

According to estimates, there should be at least 30 trauma centers in Georgia for trauma care access for all. Currently, we need at least 12 more centers to ensure that all Georgia residents live within 50 miles of a trauma center. Georgia’s trauma care network leaves much to be desired, and the average trauma death rate in our state is much worse than the national average. To make matters worse, recent budget cuts have slashed approximately $10 million of funding for the existing trauma care centers in Georgia.

Georgia Accident Victims Need More Trauma Care Facilities

An uneven distribution of trauma care facilities in Georgia means that persons who meet with accidents in DeKalb or Fulton Counties have a better chance of surviving, compared to those in rural Georgia. The metropolitan Atlanta area has access to several trauma care centers where healthcare professionals can provide the kind of emergency care that saves lives. Thousands of people across Georgia are not that lucky. A new measure would remove this gap, giving accident victims in rural areas a chance to survive.

Come November, Georgia citizens can vote on a referendum on a vehicle license tag fee. The measure would add $10 to the existing fee structure, and the funds generated would be used to pay for the expansion of the trauma care facility system in Georgia. However good the intentions may be, the measure may have trouble being approved, especially during an election year. 

It’s no secret to Atlanta car accident lawyers that there is a stark difference between rural and urban accident fatalities. There are several reasons for this, including higher incidences of drunk driving, and poorly maintained roads in rural areas. However, one of the main reasons why people in rural areas are more likely to die in accidents is because they simply aren't near enough to the closest trauma care facility. 

Currently, Georgia has only 16 trauma care centers, and many of these are located in the urban areas. Out of these 16, only four centers are designated level 1 for the treatment of the most serious life-threatening injuries. Experts estimate Georgia needs at least 30 trauma care centers to save more lives every year. More trauma care centers would mean not only saving more lives in motor vehicle accidents and truck accidents every year, but also reduced long term disability.

More numbers of trauma care hospitals in Georgia could mean up to 700 lives saved every year in automobile accidents. However, the state has a severe shortage of trauma centers – just 15 centers in all, many of which are located in urban centers. Now, a new bill that would levy an additional $200 fine on speeding drivers on Georgia's highways is being introduced as a means of funding expansion of the state's trauma care system.

As Georgia personal injury attorneys, we regularly see the impact of delayed emergency trauma care on the injured. Motorists in rural areas of Georgia, where over a million people are more than 75 miles from the nearest trauma care center, have a higher rate of succumbing to serious injuries sustained in a car crash, a bullet injury or a serious fall, because of their lack of access to trauma care.   The discrepancy in urban-rural "golden hour" care access – the life saving care that can save a person's life, if received within the first hour of being injured - is clear to see in the numbers. Motorists involved in an accident in urban cities like Atlanta, have a death rate that's one in every 339 accidents. In rural centers, the fatality rate is a whopping one in every 74 accidents. In most of these cases, lives can be saved if the patient has timely access to emergency trauma care, but precious time is lost transporting injured victims to the nearest trauma center.

The state's chronically under-equipped trauma care system has been a source of concern for a while now, and the legislature has made attempts to correct the situation. These have been inadequate, however. Funding has been the primary source of concern and with no end in sight to Georgia's fiscal crisis, generating funds for trauma care center expansion has become a problem. 

Now, there's hope in sight. Last week, the House voted 113-53 to levy a fine of $200 on "super speeders" who drive extra fast on the state's highways. Drivers exceeding 85 mph on four-lane highways or 75 mph on two-lane roads could find themselves having to cough up the fee which will be additional to any other fines they may have imposed on them. . The bill would also impose an additional fee of $400 on some motorists who apply for renewal of their driver's license. These fees will be used to expand Georgia's trauma care system, allowing more people to access the life-saving care they need in the event of an accident. 

The bill attempts to make "super speeders" who are often the ones guilty of causing serious accidents, responsible for funding the expansion of trauma care centers, and it has our total support.  Finding other funding sources during a recession is going to be next to impossible, and tougher measures are necessary to raise funds, so that more Georgians can be brought under trauma care cover. 

Grady Memorial Hospital (“Grady”), in the heart of downtown Atlanta, serves 850,000 outpatients a year and admits 30,000 inpatients. It is the only Level One Trauma Center in north Georgia, and it provides the city of Atlanta’s only emergency ambulance fleet. In addition to treating accident victims, Grady has the state’s only poison center and has an esteemed burn center. Serious accident victims are often transferred to Grady for care. 

Because Grady serves a large uninsured and indigent population, it provides a critical safety net for those who cannot afford health care. In addition, Grady provides an important training ground for medical students at Emory University and Morehouse School of Medicine.

However, if Grady closes it doors, other local and regional hospitals will be flooded with indigent patients, and the training ground for one in four doctors will disappear. According to The National Association of Public Hospitals, charity hospitals such as Grady account for only 2 percent of all hospitals, but provide for 25 percent of indigent care. The cost of caring for the uninsured has risen while taxpayer support has stagnated.

In November, the Grady Board approved plans to restructure as a 501c3 corporation. However, it agreed to do so only if the state and surrounding counties pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to Grady. Prior to the restructure, Grady operated as a hospital authority under the DeKalb and Fulton County Commissions. Only these two counties make annual appropriations to the hospital’s budgets. However, two out of ten patients arrive from other counties daily. Meanwhile, county contributions have not increased. County commissioners claim they are reluctant to increase funding when the state and other counties will not contribute. 

Consumer groups worry that changing the governance structure of Grady will reprioritize its resources, and that patients will fall to the bottom of the priority list. Consumer advocates, such as Allison Wall, executive director of Georgia Watch, a non-profit consumer advocacy group, worry that a change in governance will cause a shift in Grady’s mission of providing indigent care.    

Grady officials want the state legislature to permanently fund as much $30 million. Democrats want to increase state funding of Grady by possibly taping into funds provided by other metro countries that use Grady. House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) proposed a $10 fee on car tags for 2008 to support the hospital. Governor Sonny Perdue has proposed additional fines on “super speeders” to help fund the Grady Healthcare System. Many state Republicans want to see more fiscal responsibility from Grady’s current board before allocating more money to the Grady Healthcare System. Another option on the legislative agenda is for the state to finance a statewide trauma network.

 Many of our clients, receive treatment at Grady. If you have been injured in an accident, please contact the law firm of Robert N. Katz for a free, private consultation. As the Georgia legislature convenes over the next few months, we will keep you up to date on the status for this important Georgia trauma hospital.