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House Study Bill 217

Bill Text

PAG LIN
  1  1    Section 1.  FINDINGS.  The general assembly finds that the
  1  2 exception to the general statute of limitations provided
  1  3 minors in section 614.8, Code 1997, impedes efforts of the
  1  4 state to make maternal and child health care widely available
  1  5 in order to provide for the health and welfare of children and
  1  6 pregnant women of this state.  Because providers of health
  1  7 care rendering services to children and pregnant women remain
  1  8 liable to claims made by the children involved for as long as
  1  9 nineteen years after the service is rendered, or even longer
  1 10 if the child claims the injury was prenatal, a disincentive
  1 11 results for the provision of these services.  The long period
  1 12 of limitation influences medical students not to pursue
  1 13 obstetrical and pediatric practices and physicians practicing
  1 14 in those areas to cease practice many years in advance of
  1 15 normal retirement in order to avoid defending claims during
  1 16 their advanced years.  Such influence has exhibited itself in
  1 17 the less populated areas of the state where these medical
  1 18 services are in dangerously short supply.  Because of the
  1 19 extended period of limitation provided minors, a significant
  1 20 number of primary care physicians have stopped providing
  1 21 obstetrical services.  These trends also have an adverse
  1 22 impact upon the state's efforts to provide for the economic
  1 23 development of less populated areas of the state.  The
  1 24 shortage of physicians providing obstetrical care in those
  1 25 areas is a significant impediment to attracting new economic
  1 26 activity.  Available data show that nearly all such claims are
  1 27 brought within eight years of occurrence.  Claims brought
  1 28 after such a passage of time would logically be very difficult
  1 29 to prove or defend successfully.  Fading of memories, the
  1 30 absence of records, and changes in the standard of care make
  1 31 litigating claims after such a period prohibitively expensive
  1 32 and difficult.  Public policy should encourage claimants to
  1 33 bring claims within a more reasonable period of time when
  1 34 there is greater likelihood of success.  Providers of health
  1 35 care, to the extent that a reasonable period of limitation can
  2  1 provide protection, should be relieved of concern that they or
  2  2 their estates could be placed in the position of having to
  2  3 defend actions based upon events that occurred many years in
  2  4 the past.  The general assembly recognizes the potentially
  2  5 conflicting public interests between access to the courts and
  2  6 access to health care and finds that the state has a
  2  7 compelling interest in access to health care which must be
  2  8 paramount in furtherance of the government's obligation to
  2  9 provide for the general health and welfare of its citizens.
  2 10 These findings relate only to Code section 614.8 as amended in
  2 11 this Act.
  2 12    Sec. 2.  Section 614.1, subsection 9, Code 1997, is amended
  2 13 to read as follows:
  2 14    9.  MALPRACTICE.  a.  Those Except as provided in paragraph
  2 15 "b", those founded on injuries to the person or wrongful death
  2 16 against any physician and surgeon, osteopath, osteopathic
  2 17 physician and surgeon, dentist, podiatric physician,
  2 18 optometrist, pharmacist, chiropractor, or nurse, licensed
  2 19 under chapter 147, or a hospital licensed under chapter 135B,
  2 20 arising out of patient care, within two years after the date
  2 21 on which the claimant knew, or through the use of reasonable
  2 22 diligence should have known, or received notice in writing of
  2 23 the existence of, the injury or death for which damages are
  2 24 sought in the action, whichever of the dates occurs first, but
  2 25 in no event shall any action be brought more than six years
  2 26 after the date on which occurred the act or omission or
  2 27 occurrence alleged in the action to have been the cause of the
  2 28 injury or death unless a foreign object unintentionally left
  2 29 in the body caused the injury or death.
  2 30    b.  An action brought pursuant to paragraph "a" on behalf
  2 31 of a minor who was under the age of six years when the act,
  2 32 omission, or occurrence alleged in the action occurred, shall
  2 33 be commenced no later than the minor's eighth birthday.
  2 34    Sec. 3.  Section 614.8, Code 1997, is amended to read as
  2 35 follows:
  3  1    614.8  MINORS AND PERSONS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS.
  3  2    a.  The times limited for actions herein in this chapter,
  3  3 except those brought for penalties and forfeitures, shall be
  3  4 are extended in favor of minors and persons with mental
  3  5 illness, so that they shall have one year from and after the
  3  6 termination of such the disability within which to commence
  3  7 said an action.
  3  8    b.  Except as provided in section 614.1, subsection 9, the
  3  9 times limited for actions in this chapter, except those
  3 10 brought for penalties and forfeitures, are extended in favor
  3 11 of minors, so that they shall have one year from and after
  3 12 attainment of majority within which to commence an action.  
  3 13                           EXPLANATION
  3 14    This bill states the need for a shortened statute of
  3 15 limitations for medical malpractice actions involving minors
  3 16 who are injured under the age of six.
  3 17    Code sections 614.1 and 614.8 are amended to provide that
  3 18 the time period for commencing an action for medical
  3 19 malpractice for a minor under six years of age when the act,
  3 20 omission, or occurrence alleged in the action occurred, is
  3 21 extended to the minor's eighth birthday.  For a minor six
  3 22 years of age or older when such an act, omission, or
  3 23 occurrence alleged in an action occurred, Code section 614.1
  3 24 would generally allow the commencement of an action within two
  3 25 years after the date on which the claimant knew, or through
  3 26 reasonable diligence should have known, or received notice of
  3 27 the injury or death, but in no event more than six years after
  3 28 the date on which occurred the act, omission, or occurrence
  3 29 alleged in the action, unless a foreign object was
  3 30 unintentionally left in the body.  
  3 31 LSB 2682HC 77
  3 32 tm/sc/14
     
Text: HSB00216                          Text: HSB00218
Text: HSB00200 - HSB00299               Text: HSB Index
Bills and Amendments: General Index     Bill History: General Index
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