The full House is expected to vote Wednesday/today on a plan that would require any medical malpractice complaints to go before a three member panel prior to trial.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Dan Gorenstein has this preview.
It's almost as if a heavy weight championship title fight has come to Concord.
Open up the state's largest newspapers and- in print big enough to see from across the room- full page ads promote the title bout.
TRIAL LAWYERS Vs. New Hampshire Doctors.
The ads come courtesy of the New Hampshire Medical Society, the New Hampshire Hospital Association and the New Hampshire Medical Group Managers Association.
The medical community called a press conference in Concord this week to inform the public about the recent bad news doctors have received.
Medical Society President Doctor Gary Sobelson said one of the state's largest insurers has been forced to increase medical malpractice rates...again.
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2:13 the rates that Medical Mutual of Maine has filed represent an average increase of 25% over last year's paid rates. But even more ominous than that is increases go from 10% to as high as 65% increases from certain specialties.
Sobelson warned that these rates are driving neurosurgeons and obstetricians out of the state.
Medical Society President Palmer Jones went so far as to blame legislators for the premium hikes.
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12:45 ...I am hoping that legislators will understand that one of the reasons we have this increase in medical mutual's rates is the fact that we didn't do anything last year. We are here to make it very clear, we need the support of Representatives and the Senators to pass 214.
The medical community backs what is known as Senate Bill 214.
The measure would establish a panel comprised of a judge, lawyer and doctor.
The group would review medical malpractice claims before they go to court to determine if negligence occurred.
And the panel's finding would be admissible if the decision were unanimous and appealed to a court.
The Medical Society says SB 214 is the only current solution available to help get a handle on premium rates and preserve physicians' practices.
That argument doesn't sway Representative Betty Lasky.
3:58 we heard testimony the last month or so...we heard from all kinds of experts, constitutional experts, physicians, insurance, the insurance department, the medical board, and the data, the empirical data is not there to say that physicians are leaving the state, that physicians are not coming into the state. We have no punitive damages, there is no data to warrant changing our legal system.
Lasky prefers to amend SB214.
The change would still require the three member panel.
But the doctor, lawyer and judge would only consider if the complaint had merit, not if any wrongdoing occurred.
It also would require mandatory mediation.
And the findings would not be admissible in court.
With the vote expected this week, Representatives are being bombarded with phone calls.
But what makes it tough on the Representatives is that both sides are claiming the truth is on their side.
For NHPR News, I'm DG.
