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