Given the current crisis at Grady, and the reaction of the hospital authority, we may need a special session of the legislature.

As noted in a post yesterday, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has warned DeKalb County and Fulton County officials that if the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority doesn't take action, he will press the state Legislature to change the way Grady is managed.

The response of the hospital authority: According to today's AJC:

[They] are doing a good job of running the hospital and can chart it through its financial crisis.

The board announced that it has hired the Atlanta law firm of Troutman Sanders to analyze the [Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce task force] plan to change the governance of the hospital. The law firm will look at the legal moves necessary and any potential risks, reporting to the board in about two months.

Analyzing the chamber plan and looking at the legal moves necessary is not a job requiring two months by a major Atlanta law firm. Many, many hospital authorities in Georgia have restructured for various reasons, including protecting hospital management from political influence.

If this is a delaying tactic, and given the current crisis at Grady, I would not be opposed to calling the legislature into a special session for a couple of days to get the restructuring ball rolling.