Forum: Trauma care remains real need in Georgia

What happens when a life-or-death issue is raised and put on the ballot, but fails?

Does the issue go away?

Do we continue to look for answers or just accept the failure and retain the status quo?

Last week at the polls, Georgians were asked to decide on a constitutional amendment under which they would pay an annual $10 fee on motor vehicle tags to fund trauma care in our state. The amendment was defeated by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin.

The facts supporting the need to upgrade our trauma system in the state of Georgia are real and hard to ignore:

► The death rate for trauma victims in Georgia is 20 percent greater than the national average.

► The lack of a trauma system network in our state results in more than 700 deaths per year.

► We have only 16 trauma centers in our state, but need 25 to 30 such centers.

► We only have four Level 1 trauma centers in our state, but need more, particularly in Southwest Georgia.

With such compelling facts to justify the need for upgrading our trauma system, why did the amendment fail?

While it's impossible to know why people vote a certain way, many believe that voters are simply fed up with fees and taxes and wanted to send politicians a clear message - stop this madness, no matter how worthy the reason for the new revenue stream.

Others speculate that the message was not communicated well by those pushing for passage of the amendment. Voters complained that all the amendments were poorly written and hard to understand. One voter that I spoke to said he voted against the trauma amendment because it would have cost him $60 per year to buy tags for his car, truck and four trailers. When I explained to him that it only applied to passenger vehicles and would have cost him $20 per year, he replied that, had he known that, he would have voted for it.

At a meeting last week with other state legislators, I asked them why they thought the amendment failed. Some said

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