Stand Comm. Report No. 723, H.B. 1784, H.D. 2, Relating to Medical Torts

Representative Jon Riki Karamatsu

Written Remarks into the House Journal

March 10, 2009; 26^th Day

Stand Comm. Report No. 723, H.B. 1784, H.D. 2, Relating to Medical Torts

I rise in support of House Bill 1784, House Draft 2, Relating to Medical Torts.  Mr. Speaker, there has been a disturbing trend over the years as more and more doctors either leave the islands or retire, leaving our residents with inadequate access to healthcare, if at all.  Our neighbor island residents especially suffer the unfortunate consequences of our growing lack of physicians.  There are several factors contributing to this mass exodus of doctors, including a high cost of living, low reimbursement rates, and high medical malpractice insurance premiums.

House Bill 1784, House Draft 2 attempts to address one of the main reasons that doctors claim is forcing them to leave our state.  This tort reform proposal originally offered a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages, with a $3 million cap for gross negligence cases.  However, after careful consideration of the concerns expressed by the medical community, legal community and patient advocates, the Judiciary Committee has amended this measure to better reflect a more balanced approach to addressing tort reform.  More specifically we removed the specific award amount for noneconomic damages, included a provision to exclude the cap on noneconomic damages in cases where the economic damages are less than $1.5 million, removed the sections on attorney fees, periodic payments, admissible evidence, and the $3 million cap in cases of gross negligence, clarified the language in the adverse notification section, and established a medical malpractice task force and a medical malpractice rate and awards cap commission in order to best determine and regularly maintain the most reasonable, yet realistic medical malpractice insurance premiums and noneconomic damage caps possible.

And while your committee recognized the importance that the physician profile section brings in encouraging consumer awareness and protection, we felt that it was best not to jeopardize passage of this measure because of a potential title problem that the profiling section posed, and therefore, with the prior consent of your Health Chair, chose to delete that section.

The measure before us today is a well-thought out compromise that attempts to address the concerns of all affected parties based on factual research and best practices from other states, while keeping in mind the unique situation of our island state.  This measure also strives to bring all the affected stakeholders together to develop realistic solutions to the impending medical crisis we are facing.  Medical tort reform is a very complex and emotional issue that has gone unaddressed for years.  It is time that we bring the affected stakeholders and experts together to have an open and candid discussion about the actual reasons that are forcing our doctors to leave and what we can do to keep them here.  Without that discussion we will never truly find the solutions we need, which is why the establishment of this task force is so important.

In short Mr. Speaker, your Judiciary Committee recognizes the sensitive divide on this issue, the need to bring the affected stakeholders together for an open and honest discussion, and that even though this is only one of many different components affecting our state’s healthcare system, the critical need to move this measure forward for further discussion.

This measure in its current draft provides us with the opportunity to continue the meaningful policy discussions regarding doctor recruitment and retention and therefore, I ask my colleagues to support this measure so that these discussions may continue on in the Senate.  Thank you.