Bill Text: MO HB1014 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires the establishment of a pilot project to implement a medical malpractice court and removes a provision regarding the limitation on noneconomic damages in an action against a health care provider
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-04-12 - Referred: Judiciary (H) [HB1014 Detail]
Download: Missouri-2011-HB1014-Introduced.html
FIRST REGULAR SESSION
96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE HUGHES.
1997L.01I D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal section 538.210, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to medical malpractice court cases.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 538.210, RSMo, is repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 477.700 and 538.210, to read as follows:
477.700. 1. Beginning January 1, 2012, the chief justice of the supreme court or his or her designee shall establish a five-year pilot project to implement a medical malpractice court in this state and to study its effectiveness and feasability on a statewide basis.
2. The project shall include the following:
(1) The chief justice or his or her designee shall select one circuit in this state to implement the five-year pilot;
(2) The chief justice or his or her designee shall designate a judge in that circuit who has a medical background to be the judge of that medical malpractice court;
(3) All medical malpractice cases in the designated circuit and any other civil cases which will require the introduction of extensive medical evidence shall be assigned to the judge of the medical malpractice court.
3. The Missouri supreme court shall develop and implement any rules necessary to carry out this pilot project.
4. The pilot project shall be funded from existing appropriations or with any moneys specifically appropriated for this pilot project.
5. At the end of the five-year pilot, the chief justice or his or her designee shall submit a report to the governor and the general assembly by February 1, 2018, on the effectiveness of the medical malpractice court and the feasability of expanding it statewide. The report shall, at a minimum, include the following:
(1) A conclusion as to the effectiveness of having a judge with a medical background handle medical malpractice cases as opposed to judges without such a background;
(2) A conclusion as to the effectiveness of having all medical malpractice cases and other civil cases with extensive medical evidence heard in one court by a judge with a medical background;
(3) An assessment of the impact of the medical malpractice court in the following areas:
(a) Length of time from filing to disposition in the medical malpractice court versus the average length of time for such cases in other circuits without a medical malpractice court;
(b) A comparison of the number and size of settlements in the malpractice court with the number and size of settlements in previous years for malpractice cases;
(c) A comparison of the average size of damage awards in the pilot court versus the average size of damage awards in other circuits without a medical malpractice court;
(d) The level of acceptance of the concept of a medical malpractice court by lawyers and judges within the pilot circuit;
(e) The impact of the removal of the three hundred fifty thousand dollar cap on noneconomic damages in actions against health care providers for damages for personal injury or death arising out of the rendering of or the failure to render health care services, on damage awards in cases in the pilot medical malpractice court versus the impact on damage awards in such cases in circuits without a medical malpractice court;
(4) A recommendation as to whether the medical malpractice court should be continued and if so how it should be implemented including whether a medical malpractice court should be implemented in every circuit, or on a regional basis or just one medical malpractice court for the entire state; and
(5) Any recommended changes for the structure or operation of the medical malpractice court.
6. As used in this section "designee" may be one individual or a panel of members made up of doctors, lawyers and judges selected by the chief justice of the Missouri supreme court.
538.210. 1. [In any action against a health care provider for damages for personal injury or death arising out of the rendering of or the failure to render health care services, no plaintiff shall recover more than three hundred fifty thousand dollars for noneconomic damages irrespective of the number of defendants.
2. (1) Such limitation shall also apply to any individual or entity, or their employees or agents that provide, refer, coordinate, consult upon, or arrange for the delivery of health care services to the plaintiff; and
(2) Who is a defendant in a lawsuit brought against a health care provider under this chapter, or who is a defendant in any lawsuit that arises out of the rendering of or the failure to render health care services.
(3) No individual or entity whose liability is limited by the provisions of this chapter shall be liable to any plaintiff based on the actions or omissions of any other entity or person who is not an employee of such individual or entity whose liability is limited by the provisions of this chapter. Such limitation shall apply to all claims for contribution.
3. In any action against a health care provider for damages for personal injury or death arising out of the rendering of or the failure to render health care services, where the trier of fact is a jury, such jury shall not be instructed by the court with respect to the limitation on an award of noneconomic damages, nor shall counsel for any party or any person providing testimony during such proceeding in any way inform the jury or potential jurors of such limitation.
4.] For purposes of sections 538.205 to 538.230, any spouse claiming damages for loss of consortium of their spouse shall be considered to be the same plaintiff as their spouse.
[5.] 2. Any provision of law or court rule to the contrary notwithstanding, an award of punitive damages against a health care provider governed by the provisions of sections 538.205 to 538.230 shall be made only upon a showing by a plaintiff that the health care provider demonstrated willful, wanton or malicious misconduct with respect to his actions which are found to have injured or caused or contributed to cause the damages claimed in the petition.
[6.] 3. For purposes of sections 538.205 to 538.230, all individuals and entities asserting a claim for a wrongful death under section 537.080 shall be considered to be one plaintiff.
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