Medical Malpractice Screening Panels: Proposed Model Legislation to Cure Judicial Ills

Abstract

The medical malpractice claims crises of the 1970s and 1980s have generated the need for a means by which the judicial system can reduce the overall costs per claim, discourage or eliminate non-meritorious claims, and provide a basis for control of rising health care costs and medical malpractice insurance rates. In response, many states have enacted screening panel statutes as part of their medical malpractice reform packages. Yet these panel statutes are diverse and inconsistent, problematic when invoked in federal diversity actions, and filled with constitutional problems. This article proposes a Model Medical Malpractice Screening Panel Act, set forth in the article’s Appendix, to address these problems. The purposes of this model act are to balance the needs of both plaintiffs and defendants in medical malpractice actions and to serve the interests of judicial efficiency. The model act provides needed guidance to the states and could lead to uniform treatment of medical malpractice claims in the courts.

Keywords: medical malpractice, tort law, torts, screening panels

JEL Classification: K13