Malpractice Bill Ready for Full House

The Help Efficient, Accessible, Low Cost, Timely Health Care (HEALTH) Act includes these provisions:

• Limits the award of punitive damages to malicious intent or instances where the provider deliberately failed to avoid injury
• Limits the monetary award for punitive damages to twice the amount of economic damages or $250,000.
• Requires a plaintiff to file a lawsuit within 3 years of manifestation of the injury or within one year of discovery of the injury
• Sets a sliding scale for attorney contingency fees
• Allows the introduction of evidence of collateral-source benefits, such as Medicare or Medicaid, to prevent double recovery
• Prohibits a physicians or pharmacist from being named a party in a product liability suit for prescribing or dispensing an FDA-approved product.