Medical review panels, created to weed out frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits, have had a modest impact on claims filed through the end of 2007, a report says. Of the 89 claims filed since the panel went into effect on July 1, 2005, 24 were either withdrawn or dismissed, settled or partially dismissed, or a lawsuit was filed but it was settled before trial. Overall, the panel has had an impact on 26 percent of the claims. “I’d say that I think the program has helped to some extent,” said Eric Easton of the attorney general’s office, who administers the panels. “There are certainly some cases we can point to and say that going through the process led to the early compromise of a claim, or dismissal of a claim,” he added.
But there are a lot of claims that have gone through the process but were waived before a hearing and either ended up in District Court or some other settlement. Because many of these cases are complicated, Easton said, it is difficult to say if going through a hearing would have kept them out of court. “I certainly feel that in a lot of those cases the process has helped settle cases ahead of time and reduced costs and kept them out of court,” Easton said. “That’s a good thing, and so we’re accomplishing something,” he added. It has been a bit of a surprise, he said, that so many health care providers — physicians, nurses, dentists and hospitals — waived the panel hearing process, which now is voluntary. It is up to the Legislature, Easton said, to decide if this is enough or if the law should be changed to make panel participation mandatory.
In 32 of the 89 cases, the health care provider failed to answer the claim or waived the panel. In 34 cases, the claimant and the health care provider jointly waived the panel. In six cases, the claimant dismissed the claim.
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