Beck Joins Forces with Doctors to Preserve Access to Health Care for All

January 26, 2010

Contact: Bill Murray / (609) 292-5199
Senator Jennifer Beck (R-12)

Package of Bills Will Include Medical Malpractice Reforms

Senator Jennifer Beck (R-12) announced today that she is drafting legislation that will help prevent a critical shortage of physicians in New Jersey. A two-year study by the New Jersey Council of Teaching Hospitals concluded that the state will have an unprecedented shortfall in the number of doctors over the next decade, in part because of the state’s medical malpractice insurance laws.

“It is vital that we act now to ensure that every New Jerseyan will have access to care,” Beck said. “We need policies that will ensure we train and retain enough doctors to prevent the quality of care from deteriorating in our state.”

The report forecasts that in ten years NJ will be short 1,000 primary care physicians and 1,800 specialists unless reforms are passed quickly. Mentioned in the report are several actions the state should take to modernize the training of physicians as well as recommendations on how already practicing medical doctors can be retained in New Jersey.

“New Jersey must have the medical personnel needed to guarantee the health of every citizen,” Beck said. “Passage of this legislation is a vital first step to ensuring that we train and retain the doctors we will need.”

Beck said she looks forward to working with the Christie administration, teaching hospitals and the state’s dedicated medical professionals to prevent doctor shortages and to create a health care system second to none.

The following is a synopsis of some of the proposed legislation:

A physician performing a procedure as a volunteer, in good faith and without consideration, at a clinic, other health care facility or any other location where the treatment or procedure is being rendered is not liable for civil damages as a result of any act or omission rendering treatment.
Amends existing law to provide that a malpractice action against a health care provider has to be commenced within two years after the plaintiff or patient discovers or should have discovered the injury, but not less than four years after the date of the alleged act that is the basis in the action. An action on behalf of a minor for an injury at birth must be commenced prior to the minor’s 11th birthday.
Expert witnesses must be licensed in New Jersey, unless the court waives it on the ground that no person licensed in New Jersey meets the qualifications set forth in the act. This applies to individuals providing certificates of merit as well.
Expert testimony must be based on and refer to objective scientific clinical evidence, which is defined in the bill as a precise application of generally recognized facts or principles using a scholarly methodology regulated by or conforming to the generally accepted principles of medical science.
Persons testifying as an expert witness would be guilty of a crime of the fourth degree if the person purposefully or knowingly makes a false, fictitious, fraudulent, or misleading statement of material fact or omits a material fact.
An affidavit of merit in a medical malpractice case must establish that there was a provider-patient relationship and must identify the specific act by the defendant that is the basis for the cause of action. The affidavit must be based on objective scientific clinical evidence.
Physicians responding to a life-threatening emergency within a hospital would have immunity even if consideration is provided to the physician for responding to the emergency.
Insurers could not increase the premium of any medical malpractice liability policy based on a claim of medical negligence or malpractice unless the claim results in a medical malpractice claim settlement, judgment or arbitration award against the insured.
No insurer can increase the premium based on a claim of medical malpractice if the alleged malpractice occurred in connection with a treatment performed on a charitable basis, without consideration, or based on a claim of malpractice if the alleged malpractice occurred in any case in which the insured provided emergency assistance under the good Samaritan law.
The bill modifies the structured settlement provision of the 2004 law to eliminate the provision that in any case in which the noneconomic damages exceed $1 million, 50% of the noneconomic losses have to be paid immediately, with the attorneys’ fees paid from that amount. The structured settlement would have to be arranged on the same basis as the structured settlement for any other civil action, with no 60 month time limitation on the payout.
Every claim or demand in excess of $100,000 per occurrence for noneconomic damages must document the economic loss and must set forth the economic loss in detail, which must be updated as necessary, and provided to the court. In every trial in which damages are awarded in a medical malpractice action, the trier of fact must separately itemize damages awarded for economic loss and damages awarded for non-economic loss, and this would be subject to the court’s review to determine if the award for non-economic loss is inadequate, excessive, or disproportionate in view of the nature of the medical condition or injury.
It must be presumed that a person who signs an informed consent form or document for a medical procedure or other form of health care has read the form or document.
An attorney may use fictitious names for one or more persons who may be determined to be parties of the action but whose role is unknown at the time of the filing. There shall be no time limitation within which the attorney may substitute the name of any person for a fictitious name.