(Newswire.net — November 22, 2018) — A 2017 law that required a medical review panel to limit malpractice lawsuits was overturned by the Kentucky Supreme Court in a unanimous decision. The ruling, which spans 34 pages, claims that the law is unconstitutional and that it delays access to the courts for common-law claims.
Senator Ralph Alvarado sponsored the bill. Residents had criticized the bill, which Alvarado proposed because Alvarado is a physician that would benefit from stricter malpractice laws. Governor Matt Bevin, who signed the bill into law, claims that the overturning is “highly disappointing.”
Bevin claims that the High Court’s decision will make residents suffer, forcing health care costs to rise and enhancing the doctor shortage in the state. He claims that the members of the Supreme Court have made it impossible to engage in any tort reform following the decision and even goes as far as stating that the members are infringing on the constitution.
Alvarado is deciding which measures to take to deal with the ruling, and he claims that he may propose a constitutional amendment that will allow voters to decide on the matter.
Circuit Judge Phillip Shepard struck the law down in October 2017, claiming that the law “protects the economic interests of the health care industry at the expense of consumers, with no demonstratable benefit to the public at large.”
The law, which was able to bypass appeals, has caused a massive backlog in malpractice cases in the state. Cases are waiting to be reviewed by state panels and are awaiting assignment. Few cases have been decided since the law passed.
Doctors and some lawmakers in the state are claiming that tort reform is harming Kentucky’s healthcare industry, but data shows that the state’s nursing homes are among the lowest quality in the nation. Out of 284 facilities, 43% were rated below average or lower.
As many as 98,000 die per year due to medical errors at hospitals. The figure is higher than the number of deaths relating to car accidents and cancer.
“All courts shall be open and every person for an injury done to him in his lands, goods, person or reputation shall have remedy by due course of law and right and justice administered without sale, denial or delay,” states Kentucky’s Constitution.
The court, following the constitution, claims that the review panel obstructs access to the courts, causing many people’s cases of malpractice to remain in limbo over the past year.