Is NH State Medical Board Failing To Discipline Bad Doctors?

According to an analysis by Public Citizen of data from the National Practitioner Data Bank, state medical boards have failed to discipline 55 percent of the nation’s doctors who either lost their clinical privileges or had them restricted by the hospitals where they worked.

In New Hampshire, 54.9% of physicians with one or more clinical privileges suspended or limited received no licensure actions (that's 51 physicians with clinical privileges actions during the 19-year period studied, and 28 physicians with no licensure report). 

The analysis, according to Public Citizen, raises serious questions about whether state medical boards are responding adequately to hospital peer review determinations of substandard care or conduct, and, secondarily, whether state boards are getting copies of hospital reports to the NPDB. Given the value of hospital disciplinary reports, such reports must be received and properly utilized by medical boards to assure patient safety.

Public Citizen calls upon the NH State Medical board to work cooperatively with HRSA to regularly identify physicians in New Hampshire who have had clinical privilege reports submitted to the NPDB but have not had a state licensure action.

Go to Public Citizen for read the full analysis, its findings and conclusions: State Medical Boards Fail to Discipline Doctors with Hospital Actions Against Them

NH Medical Liability/Malpractice Laws

The National Conference of State Legislatures website summarizes the medical liability and malpractice laws by state. The chart is updated as of September 2010. It documents:

• Damage Award Limits or Cap
• Statute of Limitation
• Joint and Several Liability
• Limits on Attorney Fees
• Periodic Payments
• Patient Compensasion or Injury Fund
• Doctor Apologies/Sympathetic Gestures
• Pre-trial Alternative Dispute Resolution and Screening Panels
• Affidavit or Certificate of Merit
• Expert Witness Standards
• Medical or Peer Review Panels

Click here to view New Hampshire's Medical Liability and Malpractice Laws.

NH Screening Panels Scrutinized

Some interesting numbers are included in the NHBR report on New Hampshire's review of medical malpractice review panels. In The jury's still out on malpractice panels, Cindy Kibbe writes that according to figures from the state's Medical Malpractice Panel and Insurance Oversight Committee...

"... there have been some 387 cases brought to the attention of screening panels since 2007, with 147 resolved prior to panel review. Of the 240 remaining cases 87 were waived, 84 have been heard and 69 are pending as of Dec. 10. Only 18 medical malpractice cases have gone to a jury trial after panel review since 2007."

For the full article please click through to NHBR where you can read or listen to the report.

Trend in Medical Malpractice Claims Paid in New Hampshire

According to data from StateHealthFacts.org, a website of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, New Hampshire had 47 medical malpractice claims paid in 2009 for total of $12,368,750 — that's an average of $263,165 per claim. New Hampshire ranks 37th in dollars paid. The chart below shows the trend in medical malpractice claims paid in New Hampshire from 2003 to 2009.

 

View interactive chart on statehealthfacts.org

For more information, see the StateHealthFacts.org.

Four New Hampshire Hospitals Join Together for Insurance Coverge

The New Hampshire Business Review reports on four New Hampshire healthcare providers — LRGHealthcare, Concord Hospital, Elliot Health Systems of Manchester and Wentworth-Douglass Hospital — have joined to create Granite Shield Insurance Exchange.

NHBR writes:

"With the establishment of Granite Shield, LRGH ends its longstanding relationship with the New Hampshire Medical Malpractice Joint Underwriting Association..."

Read the full article here on NHBR.com: LRGH leaves JUA as 4 hospitals form new insurer

Portsmouth Hospital Makes Changes for Hearing Impaired Following Federal Lawsuit

Seacoastonline.com reports on January 18, 2011, that Portsmouth Regional Hospital is making improvements to "enhance communications with deaf and hard-of hearing patients as a result of an out-of-court agreement to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Attorney's office."

A lawsuit claimed the hospital discriminated against deaf patients... and the hospital agreed to make payments to several deaf patients as well as "to pay a $20,000 civil penalty and to adhere to the terms of a 37-page consent decree outlining changes in the way the hospital interacts with deaf and hard-of-hearing patients." The Portsmouth agreement is the fifth agreement in New Hampshire as the result of the U.S. Attorney lawsuit.

To read the full story on the Seacoastonline.com, click on: Portsmouth Hospital Settles Suit.

New Hampshire Ranks 3rd in Nation for Healthiness

American Health Rankings® has ranked New Hampshire as 3rd in the nation for overall healthiness, up from 4th in that nation last year.

Every state has its successes and every state has its challenges. New Hampshire's strengths include a low percentage of children in poverty at 10.5 percent of persons under age 18, a low violent crime rate at 160 offenses per 100,000 population, a low rate of uninsured population at 10.4 percent, low geographic disparity within the state at 5.7 percent and a low premature death rate with 5,792 years of potential life lost before age 75 per 100,000 population.

It's challenges include moderate public health funding at $63 per person, a moderate prevalence of binge drinking at 16.1 percent of the population and a moderate rate of cancer deaths at 196.2 deaths per 100,00. 

Click here to view the NH E-Ranking Report Card.

Vermont tops the list of healthiest states for the last four years of published reports. Vermont has had a steady climb in the Rankings for the last twelve years from a ranking of 17th in the 1997 and 1998 Editions. Massachusetts is ranked second, an improvement from third last year. Massachusetts has ranked in the top ten for almost 20 years. New Hampshire is ranked third, followed by Connecticut and Hawaii.

Mississippi is ranked 50th, with Louisiana, Arkansas, Nevada and Oklahoma rounding out the bottom five.

NH Gets New Chief Justice

New Hampshire's Executive Council has unanimously confirmed state Supreme Court Justice Linda Dalianis as New Hampshire's first female chief justice. She fills the position left bly retired chief justice John Broderick. This as reported by The Concord Monitor on December 9, 2010.

Submit Your NH Medical Malpractice Verdicts and Settlements

Please submit your news releases on recent medical malpractice verdicts and settlements for consideration in NH Medical Malpractice News. We aim to document significant wins in the state. Names are not necessary, but the result, type of case, and interesting specifics are encouraged. The date and court are also required for verification, but will not necessarily be published. Click here to submit.

NH Could Save 93 Hospital Deaths

According to analytical studies of comparative health care performance data by The Commonwealth Fund, 93 fewer premature deaths (before age 75) might occur from causes that are potentially treatable or preventable with timely and appropriate health care. This is according to the Commonwealth Fund State Scorecard, 2009, which lists state-specific rankings and results compared to industry benchmarks, and predicts the number of lives and dollars each state could save by achieving benchmark levels of performance. Click to view the New Hampshire Scorecard. New Hampshire ranks in the top quartile nationwide.

Sulindac Verdict is $21 Million

Here's the link to the highly anticipated Sulindac products liability case in NH. On September 8, 2010, the federal jury awarded a woman $21 million for injuries including blindness after taking the anti-inflammatory drug Sulindac. To read the Boston Globe article, click here.

Sulindac on Trial in Products Liability Case

A products liability case is now in the hands of a Concord, NH jury for a 45 year old plaintiff who took the drug Sulindac for shoulder pain and quickly developed complications leading to blindness. The plaintiff seek more than $24 million in damages. The lawsuit is reported here by the AP in Bloomberg Businessweek.

NH Couple, Hospital Settle in Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

The Boston Herald reports on a medical malpractice lawsuit involving a failed kidney transplant. Plaintiffs are a New Hampshire couple who have agreed to a $1.25 million settlement in a lawsuit against three doctors and a nurse at a Boston teaching hospital. Plaintiffs claimed that understaffing, rookie doctors-in-training and chain-of-command breakdowns at the teaching hospital led to the donor kidney dying a week after the transplant. The Nashua couple settled with the defendants on the day opening arguments were scheduled in Suffolk Superior Court. The defendants did not admit guilt. See full story here: NH Couple

N.H. Malpractice Premiums Unchanged

NHBR reports that ProSelect Insurance Company has announced it will not be increasing medical liability insurance premiums for New Hampshire providers. See the full article and accompanying podcast here:
Firm keeps N.H. malpractice premiums unchanged

NH Supreme Court Finds Negligence Should Be Left for Jury To Decide in Medical Malpractice Trial

CONCORD, NH — The New Hampshire Supreme Court overturned the trial court's decision in a medical malpractice lawsuit, Beckles v. Madden, agreeing with Lubin & Meyer attorneys for the plaintiff in finding that the burden of proof for causation, an element of negligence, should be left for the jury to decide. Attorney Benjamin Novotny, presented the oral argument before the court. The opinion was issued April 9, 2010 by Chief Justice Broderick.

The case in summary:

"The plaintiffs, Wesley and Maggie Beckles, appeal a decision of the Superior Court (Barry, J.) granting summary judgment on their medical malpractice claims in favor of the defendants, Jennifer E. Madden, M.D., Eugene A. Lesser, D.O., Foundation Medical Partners, Foundation Neurology, and Nagbhushan S. Rao, M.D. We reverse and remand

The opinion cites New Hampshire law as follows:

A negligence action based upon a claim of medical malpractice is governed by RSA chapter 507-E (1997 & Supp. 2009). RSA 507-E:2 provides in part:

I. In any action for medical injury, the plaintiff shall have the burden of proving by affirmative evidence which must include expert testimony of a competent witness or witnesses:
(a) The standard of reasonable professional practice in the medical care provider's profession or specialty thereof, if any, at the time the medical care in question was rendered; and
(b) That the medical care provider failed to act in accordance with such standard; and
(c) That as a proximate result thereof, the injured person suffered injuries which would not otherwise have occurred.

The court's full ruling is available online at Beckles v. Madden.

Med Mal Panels in NH Working According to N.H. Medical Society’s Palmer Jones

A NHBR interview with N.H. Medical Society’s Palmer Jones includes a question on how New Hampshire's medical malpractice panel has worked (which he a says in helping settle cases quicker). What follows is an excerpt from that interview... (Read the full interview here: NH Medical Society, Palmer.)

"Five years ago, the Medical Society worked with a group of legislators to create these panels. This idea was not original – it came from Maine. What we saw was, say you’re an OB/GYN in Portsmouth and you drive across the bridge and practice in Maine, you’ll get your malpractice insurance for one-third less than what you’re paying in New Hampshire from the same company.

Once we showed the legislators the comparisons of the rates, they supported it. The medical malpractice panel is now in place. It includes a retired judge, a lawyer and a doctor of the same specialty. Any liability issues brought against any physician, hospital or other health-care practitioner has to be reviewed by this panel.

The panel can then make recommendations; if the panel is unanimous, that outcome can be introduced in court should the person wish to go on to a jury trial. We think that it has changed the overall culture as to how we deal with medical malpractice. Cases are being settled quicker, and we know when this happens, the system will save funds."

Medical Malpractice Panel Changes Move Forward

The New Hampshire Business Review reports on a bill proposing changes to the state's medical malpractice panels in an article: House OKs med malpractice panel changes. According to the story...

"The New Hampshire House passed a bill Tuesday that would allow those in front of a medical malpractice screening panel to give “offers of proof” – documentary evidence – about the charges, as opposed to providing the testimony of live witnesses, in order to reduce costs."

Read the full article on NHBR.com.

NH is One of Fourteen States To Sue Amgen over Aranesp Promotion

According to this Thompson report, 14 states, including New Hampshire, and the District of Columbia have filed suit against Amgen for alleged use kickbacks in the promotion of anemia drug Aranesp. Other states named in the report as also participating in the suit are California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Tennessee and Virginia. Read more here.

States Attorneys General.

UnionLeader.com - Study: NH has high quality, high costs for health care

Manchester, NH — Friday, Aug. 21, 2009
NH has high quality, high costs for health care

A few facts from the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies:

• 18.1 of the gross state product goes to health care spending
  
• Overall health care spending per person was $8,235
• Family health insurance premiums average $12,686
• About 6.5 percent of children in the state have no health insurance
• State sees more emergency room visits per 1,000 residents than the U.S. median, at 471 versus 401 nationally

See full article here.

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New Hampshire Appeals Ruling Denying Malpractice Fund Claim

By NORMA LOVE 08.05.09, 04:55 PM EDT

CONCORD, N.H. -- New Hampshire has appealed a lower court ruling denying its claim to a $110 million surplus in a fund that underwrites malpractice insurance...

See full AP article on Forbes.com.

Lawsuit targets hospital in 2007 hostage incident

UnionLeader.com - Lawsuit targets hospital in '07 hostage incident - Wednesday, May. 27, 2009

DOVER, NH — According to this Union Leader article, Leeland Eisenberg has filed suit against Frisbie Memorial Hospital for failure to treat his mental illness. Eisenberg later held hostages at Hillary Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, NH.

"The suit, filed this month in Strafford County Superior Court, claims that Rochester-based Frisbie and its psychiatric care provider, Community Partners, violated federal law and the New Hampshire patient's bill of rights by not adequately treating his mental health and substance abuse problems."

To read the full article on UnionLeader.com, click here.

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In NH, Governor Eyes Medical Malpractice Insurance Fund Surplus to Balance Budget

Sourced from the Keene Sentinel's full text of Gov. John Lynch's remarks to Legislature on Feb. 12, related to Medical Malpractice Insurance Fund.

"Today, I am recommending three steps to fill the remaining budget gap. First, the federal Medicaid increase expected this year will reduce that shortfall by approximately $50 million. Second, in the 1980s, the legislature established a medical malpractice insurance fund, exempt from state taxes. Over the years, this fund has built up a $110 million surplus. Under the law, the fund’s insurance premiums must be competitive with the rest of the market – and in fact its premiums are on average 10 percent below market. It cannot return this surplus without risking decimating the private insurance market. We recommend using $50 million of that fund’s surplus to help fill the remaining budget gap for fiscal year 2009 so that we can protect essential health services."

Read full text of remarks here: NH budget.

New Hampshire Lawmakers Debate Repeal of Medical Malpractice Screening Panels

New Hampshire lawmakers working to repeal a 2005 medical malpractice reform law that they deem to be a failure "face stiff opposition from the law's supporters, including doctors, hospitals and members of the insurance industry." This according to a report in The Union Leader, on Jan. 11, 2009, "Rep. Robert Rowe, R-Amherst, has filed legislation to repeal the law mandating three-member panels screen all medical malpractice lawsuits before they go to trial."

To read the full report, click here.

Avg. Amount of Medical Malpractice Claims Paid in New Hampshire Is $400K

The average amount for a medical malpractice claim paid in the state of New Hampshire is $405,915. This according to statistics compiled by The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, whose statehealthfacts.org web site lists this 2007 number for New Hampshire. It also lists the total paid in 2007 NH claims as $16,642,500, so we can deduce that there were 41 paid claims in New Hampshire in 2007.

The web site offers comparative statistics on medical malpractice claims paid in all 50 states. Leading the pack in total dollars paid is New York state with $674,683,750 (an average of $441,547 per claim paid). For more information, see the Kaiser web site, click on: med mal claims paid data.

NH Attorney Weighs in on Screening Panel Debate

Recent attention to New Hampshire's law on medical malpractice screening panels, including recent pieces in the Concord Monitor, seems to feature a "he said-she said" debate between doctors and lawyers, leaving out the most important parties: the victims of malpractice.

Read the editorial by Attorney Dugan here: What about the victims?

To understand the opposing viewpoint, read this previously published My Turn column by Dr. Oglesby Young: Screening malpractice suits is lowering costs

File under: medical malpractice nh