House Passes Med Mal Bill

[LEGISLATION] The Washington House passed a medical malpractice bill yesterday. The Olympian - Medical malpractice bill passes first hurdle. The bill's measures include:

• Doctors with three serious acts of unprofessional conduct in 10 years would lose their licenses.
• Health care workers' apologies or admissions of fault would not be admissible as evidence in a later action.
• Insurers, self-insurers, and claimants would be required to reports all settlements of closed claims to the Insurance Commissioner. (Florida has had this requirement for years. Neil Vidmar is working on a study using the data.)
• Absent approval by a judge, litigants would be limited to two expert witnesses per side.
• No med mal suit could be filed without a "certificate of merit" from a qualified expert.<
• Attorneys fees could be awarded in some cases where the prevailing party had offered a settlement that was rejected.
• A voluntary arbitration system would be available for claims up to $1 million.

Click here for more about HB 2292, including text of the various versions (the one that passed was the second substitute bill), bill reports, and its day-by-day status in the legislature.

Categories: med-mal, legislation, tort-reform,