Cilley For Governor - SB 406 override - Legislature to Citizens: "No More Day in Court"

The New Hampshire Legislature today voted to override Governor John Lynch's veto of SB 406, a bill that places substantial obstacles in the path of those seeking justice for medical malpractice.  In his veto message regarding SB 406, Governor Lynch noted that the legislation "…lacks certain fundamental safeguards that are necessary to protect injured patients."

Democratic Gubernatorial candidate, Jackie Cilley, agrees with Governor Lynch's veto of the bill and says that this is a sad day for consumers in our state.

"Once again, the Republicans have voted to gut the rights of New Hampshire's citizens -- all in the name of knowing what is good for the poor, the indigent and the undereducated,:" stated Cilley. "The legislature has today voted to deny access to our civil justice system to middle- and working-class families injured by the medical negligence of others.  Every one of our citizens deserves access to justice when an injustice has been done to them and this radical legislature just stripped that away."

She went on to say,"In a state where we have to literally shut the doors to our court system by failing to fund them, this legislation will add one more hurdle to people trying to petition our courts for justice. The legislature has put their fingers on the scales of justice in a malicious attempt to prevent people from exercising their rights as American citizens and as residents of New Hampshire. We can now add Senator and former Congressman Jeb Bradley  to the list of people who, with Speaker O'Brien and his followers, have done all they can to strip rights from those who find themselves out of work or underemployed or medically injured by other's negligence.  These groups now join women, college students, voters, and workers."

Cilley calls on Ovide Lamontagne and Kevin Smith to state where they stand in the protection of our citizens' constitutional rights.

"They have reached a true low when they make medical care subject to a cost anaysis of whether it is cheaper to provide care or pay the cost of a lawsuit for doing nothing to intervene and save a life.  As governor, I will work to restore every single right that this legislature has stripped from our citizens. I will treat all citizens equal regardless of their circumstances and I will treasure the lives of all citizens including the 14 year old on medicaid "

NH House Leaders Comment on Medical Malpractice Tort Reform Bill

CONCORD – House Speaker William O’Brien (R-Mont Vernon) and House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt (R-Salem) offered the following statements on the passage of Senate Bill 406, a tort reform bill to settle medical injury claims. SB 406 passed 236 to 103.

House Speaker William O’Brien

“By establishing an optional process for victims of medical injury to pursue their claim without having to go through lengthy and expensive litigation, we can reduce the uncertainty for both patients and providers, which in turn will lower health care costs for consumers. It also allows malpractice victims a route to find resolution quickly, if they so choose, and be able to move on with their lives.”

House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt

“This legislation will bring a new and optional process through which victims of medical malpractice can settle their cases early without the long and expensive procedure of a trail. This legislation will benefit doctors and patients alike by bringing more consistency and speed to medical injury claims in lieu of the often long and burdensome litigation that can take years to resolve. Giving patients more choice will always produce better results, and this new Tort reform is a win-win for all involved.”

US Rep Bass Supports Medical Liability Reform Measures to Keep Health Care Costs Down

Votes for HEALTH Act during Energy and Commerce Committee markup

WASHINGTON – Congressman Charles F. Bass (NH-02) voted today to reform frivolous medical liability claims that drive up the costs of health care by forcing doctors to practice defensive medicine.  The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the Help Efficient, Accessible, Low Cost, Timely Health Care (HEALTH) Act (H.R. 5) during a markup of the legislation this afternoon.

H.R. 5 would enact limits on non-economic damages and set reasonable standards – not caps – for punitive damages.  The bill would not pre-empt any state statutory limit on compensatory or punitive damages.

Bass, a cosponsor of the legislation, said:

“Doctors are often times forced to order additional and redundant tests and procedures to avoid potential litigation.  This defensive medicine drives up the cost of health care for everyone and makes it more difficult for businesses to create jobs.  In fact, a study by the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute (HRI) estimates this practice costs the health care industry $210 billion annually.

“Medical liability reform is an idea we can all support – even President Obama expressed his desire to move forward on meaningful liability reform during his State of the Union address in January.  These reforms, and other patient-based solutions, will help to improve affordability and accessibility to health care for all Americans.”

The legislation now awaits a vote by the full House of Representatives.

http://bass.house.gov

Jeb Bradley - Legislative Update

Latest News & Notes

Legislative Update

This past week the New Hampshire Senate considered numerous pieces of legislation that while not nearly as important as the looming debate on the budget, nevertheless affects citizens' lives from personal liberties to health care. I will briefly describe several significant legislative initiatives and my responses to them.

HB-391 which passed, authorized the Department of Transportation to install what is known as open road tolling---a faster version of E-Z Pass. Unfortunately it has a cost and will require higher tolls. While open road tolls are good idea, I voted No. I believe recent toll hikes have been dramatic and that scarce resources should be used to repair roads and bridges.

HB-90 which passed, will allow a veteran to take an unpaid leave from work to commemorate Veterans Day. While this may make scheduling more difficult for employers, I believe that it is vital to allow those who have so ably served our nation and defended our liberties to participate in Veterans Day ceremonies.

HB-392 which passed, will allow so called 'cigar bars' to serve liquor. In my view, those who enjoy a cigar ought to be able to also enjoy a drink in the company of friends. A number of these premium cigar retail establishments will be aided by this bipartisan legislation. Though you won't find me doing so, those who choose to frequent such an establishment should have that opportunity.

HB-384 which passed, will allow a waiver from extensive paperwork required when a logging operation enters into the buffer around a wetland. Simplification of the paperwork will not harm the environment as a waiver is by no means automatic. But compliance costs for the forest products industry will be lower at a time when preserving jobs in the forest industry is essential.

An amendment to HB 667 would have required voters to produce identification before voting. This amendment unfortunately failed. With all the problems of illegal immigration and voter fraud, correct voter identification makes good common sense. I will continue to fight for this necessary reform.

HB-580 which dealt with patients medical records passed the House but was killed by the Senate---correctly in my view. This legislation was intended to provide patients more control over their personal medical records. While well intentioned, this legislation could be unworkable for medical practitioners especially in emergency situations when accurate, though personal, medical information is indispensible in providing necessary care. Furthermore, this legislation would not have provided doctors any protection from medical malpractice lawsuits even if the physician were forced to treat a patient without having access to the patient's medical history.

Lastly, HB-572 which dealt directly with medical malpractice also failed--thankfully in my view. HB-572 sought to alter recently created medical screening panels which weed out frivolous lawsuits that drive up the costs of health care. Americans are struggling with the high cost of healthcare, so to me eliminating frivolous lawsuits only makes sense.

California adopted placing reasonable limits on punitive damages years ago and the result has been a much more rational system where medical liability costs have remained in check. New Hampshire has not taken this approach and as a result higher risk specialty doctors such as neurosurgeons and OBGYNs have been priced out of the market and have left New Hampshire. In my view this is an unacceptable outcome.

What New Hampshire has wisely done is to create medical screening panels. Frivolous lawsuits can be disposed of by these panels without expensive settlements due to fear of large jury awards and expensive jury trials can be minimized.

Since 2005 when screening panels were approved after much legislative wrangling, fully one third of the malpractice lawsuits were resolved before reaching the screening panel stage. ; Of the 48 panels actually convened, only five actual cases proceeded to a jury trial thus avoiding many lengthy and expensive jury trials. Given the initial success of screening panels, in my view it makes no sense to undermine that success by altering the panels as HB-572 would have done. These panels have been in place four years and should be allowed to work.

This is important because frivolous lawsuits drive up the cost of healthcare. Doctors are forced to practice defensive medicine which means they over diagnose, over prescribe, and over treat to protect themselves from lawsuit abuse. Not only does this make medical treatment more invasive for individuals, but it has an extremely high cost for our medical system as well.

Many thanks to all those who have responded to my blog posts. I appreciate your thoughts and ideas.