The Georgia House passed a bill Thursday to extend greater legal protections to mental health care providers.
State Rep. Bob Leverett, R-Elberton, said people providing mental health care serve people with some of the highest needs in the state and need more protections from lawsuits.
His legislation, House Bill 1409, would limit the liability of mental health providers in lawsuits, except in cases of “gross negligence.”
The bill would also limit punitive damages against mental health care workers unless the claimant proves the provider showed “willful and wanton misconduct, reckless infliction of harm, or intentional infliction of harm.”
Leverett said the bill follows similar extensions of protections for emergency room doctors, obstetricians and gynecologists to encourage providers of those services to come to Georgia and stay in the state to care for people “who so tremendously need it.”
“All of our programs, all of the parity we impose, and all of the funding mechanisms we adopt will all be for naught unless the mental health care service providers are here to provide services our citizens need,” Leverett said.
Lawmakers approved the measure in a unanimous vote, 177-0, after paying tribute to the late House Speaker David Ralston, who had sponsored mental health legislation requiring insurers to cover mental health care at similar levels to physical health care. House members also agreed to rename a highway bridge in Ralston’s memory.
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