Hawaii’s Medical Malpractice Changes

Hawaii is getting on the bandwagon of changing med mal provisions in a non-continguous-state way.  The bill being proposed would:

» Place a $500,000 cap on noneconomic damage awards in medical tort actions against obstetricians, obstetrician-gynecologists and trauma care providers.

» Establish a sliding scale for attorney’s fees based upon the judgment or settlement.

» Eliminate joint and several liability for economic damages.

» Allow joint and several liability for noneconomic damages where a health-care provider’s degree of negligence is 25 percent or more.

* * *

Malpractice insurance premiums for some specialists are as high as $60,000 to $100,000 a year, Insurance Commissioner J.P. Schmidt said recently.

Schmidt and other tort-reform advocates point to California’s Medical Injury and Compensation Reform Act, which they say has stabilized its legal system, reduced medical malpractice premiums and made them more predictable.

Bert Sakuda . . . and Robert Toyofuku, who represents the Consumer Lawyers of Hawaii, have been major opponents of tort reform.

“The emphasis seems to have always been on the legal system, attorneys and insurance over these past years,” Toyofuku testified at the last House hearing on the bill. “The emphasis should be on the injured patients, the medical system and what is causing medical errors, medical malpractice and injuries to patients.”

Toyofuku contends caps on noneconomic damages “are unfair, arbitrary and unnecessary” and that tort reform does not significantly reduce premiums.

He also notes that the number of medical malpractice claims filed in Hawaii fell from 173 in 2001 to 105 last year. Tort-reform supporters say while fewer claims are filed, the awards are larger.