Medical Malpracitce Redefined?

Here's an article from The Tennessean about a new bill in the Tennessee General Assembly that seeks to make it easier for ER doctors to get away with medical malpractice, to wit:

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100217/COLUMNIST0304/2170359/1003/BUSINESS.

Please read the article.

The bill is bad policy, and worse, it's not supported by the numbers or facts. For example: (1) we have more doctors moving to Tennessee each year due to climate, lack of state income tax, etc.; (2) there have been fewer medical malpractice claim filed in the last two years due to recent legislation that went into effect in 2008 and 2009; and (3) lastly, medical malpractice claims are only a small part of healthcare costs (sometime less than one percent): reducing medical malpractice claims will do little to nothing to reduce healthcare costs.