HB473 (2006) Detail
Relative to the creation of screening panels for medical injury claims.
HB 473 – AS INTRODUCED
2005 SESSION
06/03
HOUSE BILL 473
AN ACT relative to the creation of screening panels for medical injury claims.
SPONSORS: Rep. C. Hamm, Merr 4; Rep. Wall, Straf 7; Rep. Miller, Straf 7; Rep. DiFruscia, Rock 4; Rep. M. Blanchard, Rock 16; Sen. Fuller Clark, Dist 24
COMMITTEE: Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs
This bill creates screening panels for the review of medical injury claims and requires a party who chooses to continue with a court action after a panel finds against him or her, to post a $10,000 bond to cover certain potential expenses.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
05-0647
06/03
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Five
AN ACT relative to the creation of screening panels for medical injury claims.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Chapter; Review Panels for Medical Injury Claims. Amend RSA by inserting after chapter 519-A the following new chapter:
CHAPTER 519-B
REVIEW PANELS FOR MEDICAL INJURY CLAIMS
519-B:1 Findings and Purpose.
I. Availability and affordability of insurance against liability for medical injury is essential for the protection of patients as well as assuring availability of and access to essential medical and hospital care. The cost of pursuing medical injury claims should not prevent legitimate claims from being pursued. This chapter affirms the intent of the general court to contain the costs of the medical injury claims and to promote availability and affordability of insurance against liability for medical injury. Claims for medical injury should be resolved as early and inexpensively as possible to contain costs for all parties. Meritorious claims should be identified as quickly as possible, as should non-meritorious claims. Defendants should consider paying or compromising meritorious claims and plaintiffs should consider withdrawing or compromising non-meritorious claims, as soon as the merits of the claims are known to the parties. Presentation of claims to a medical review panel is intended to help identify both meritorious and non-meritorious claims and defenses without the delay and expense of a court trial.
II. The purpose of medical review panels in medical injury cases is to identify claims of medical injury which merit compensation and to encourage early resolution of those claims, as well as to identify and encourage early withdrawal or dismissal of non-meritorious medical injury claims. To avoid unnecessary costs to both parties, a medical review panel is not required in cases in which the parties acknowledge that legally sufficient evidence exists to support the claims being made.
519-B:2 Definitions. In this chapter:
I. “Action for medical injury” means an action for medical injury as defined in RSA 507-E:1, I.
II. “Legally sufficient evidence” means such evidence as a reasonable person might accept as adequate to support a conclusion in favor of the party asserting the claim.
III. “Medical injury” means a medical injury as defined in RSA 507-E:1, III.
519-B:3 Formation and Procedure.
I. Any party to a medical malpractice action may request at any time within 60 days of entry of action that the claim be referred to a medical review panel. The medical review panel shall consist of a single judge of the superior court, selected at random from a list of judges maintained by the chief justice of the superior court, a physician licensed to practice medicine in the state of New Hampshire, and an attorney licensed to practice law in the state of New Hampshire. The physician shall be selected by the judge from a list of at least 3 impartial physicians submitted by the New Hampshire Medical Society. The attorney shall be selected by the judge from a list of at least 3 impartial attorneys submitted by the New Hampshire Bar Association.
II. If the panel is requested by the defendant, the plaintiff shall present an offer of proof and the panel shall determine whether the evidence presented, if properly substantiated, would be legally sufficient to entitle the plaintiff to prevail or whether the plaintiff’s case is merely an unfortunate medical result. If the panel is requested by the plaintiff, the defendant shall present an offer of proof and the panel shall determine if the evidence presented, if properly substantiated, would be legally sufficient to entitle the defendant to prevail on the issue of liability or whether the defense is without merit.
III. Admissible evidence shall include the report of an expert qualified to provide expert testimony pursuant to RSA 516:29-a and may include but not be limited to, hospital and medical records, nurses’ notes, x-rays and other records kept in the usual course of the practice of the health care provider without the necessity for other identification or authentication, statements of fact or opinion on a subject contained in a published treatise, periodical, book, or pamphlet, or statements by experts without the necessity of such experts appearing at said hearing.
IV. The panel hearing shall be conducted within 30 days of the request unless otherwise ordered by the panel.
519-B:4 Findings by Panel.
I. If a finding is made that the evidence is not legally sufficient for the plaintiff to prevail, the plaintiff may pursue the claim through the usual judicial process only upon filing a bond or other security in the amount of $10,000 in the aggregate payable to the defendant or defendants in the case of costs assessed including witness and expert fees and attorneys’ fees if the plaintiff does not prevail in the final judgment. If a finding is made that the evidence is not legally sufficient for the defendant to prevail on liability, the defendant may raise the defense through the usual judicial process only upon filing a bond or other adequate security in the amount of $10,000 in the aggregate payable to the plaintiff or plaintiffs in the case of costs assessed including witness and expert fees and attorneys’ fees if the defendant does not prevail in the final judgment on that defense.
II. If the bond or other security is not filed within 30 days of the panel finding, the action shall be dismissed. The bond or other security may be reduced by the court if a party is found to be indigent and may be increased in the discretion of the court on the recommendation of the panel.
519-B:5 Compensation. 
The panel members shall serve without compensation.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2006.