Existing law defines “provider of health care” for the purposes of provisions of existing law governing civil actions against a provider of health care for professional negligence to include a physician, physician assistant, dentist, licensed nurse, dispensing optician, optometrist, registered physical therapist, podiatric physician, licensed psychologist, chiropractic physician, doctor of Oriental medicine, medical laboratory director or technician, licensed dietitian, a person licensed to engage in radiation therapy or radiologic imaging, a licensed hospital and certain other entities. (NRS 41A.015, 41A.017) Sections 1 and 4 of this bill impose certain prohibitions on such a provider of health care. Section 1 prohibits a provider of health care from knowingly making any false or misleading statement to, or withholding any material information from, a person who has received any health care service from the provider for the purpose of preventing, hindering or delaying the person from bringing an action against the provider of health care for professional negligence. Section 1 provides for a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 for each violation of that prohibition. Section 4 prohibits a provider of health care from providing any health care service to a person in this State unless the provider of health care has obtained or otherwise carries a policy of professional liability insurance in an amount of not less than $1,000,000 for each occurrence and $3,000,000 in the aggregate. Section 5 of this bill revises provisions requiring a provider of health care to obtain a policy of professional liability insurance before providing voluntary health care service to impose that requirement only if the provider is not otherwise required to obtain or otherwise carry a policy of professional liability insurance pursuant to section 4. (NRS 629.470) Existing law sets forth various requirements and restrictions relating to civil actions against a provider of health care for professional negligence. Existing law: (1) limits the amount of noneconomic damages that a plaintiff may recover in such an action to $350,000; (2) provides that each defendant is severally, and not jointly, liable for damages awarded in such an action; (3) requires the dismissal of such an action unless it is filed with an affidavit from a medical expert meeting certain requirements; (4) requires the parties to such an action to participate in a settlement conference; (5) sets forth certain restrictions regarding the time in which such actions may be brought; (6) limits the amount of a contingent fee that an attorney representing a plaintiff in such an action may contract for or collect; (7) authorizes certain evidence to be introduced in such an action regarding certain collateral benefits of a plaintiff; and (8) requires certain damages awarded in such an action to be paid by periodic payments, rather than by a lump sum payment. (NRS 7.095, 41A.035-41A.081, 41A.097, 42.021) Section 7 of this bill repeals those requirements and restrictions. Section 2 of this bill makes a conforming change to eliminate a reference to provisions repealed by section 7. Similarly, existing law, with certain exceptions, limits to $50,000 the amount of damages for which certain providers of health care may be held liable for acts or omissions in rendering care or assistance to a patient in a hospital which was necessitated by a traumatic injury and for which the patient entered the hospital through its emergency room or trauma center, so long as the care or assistance is rendered in good faith and in a manner not amounting to gross negligence or reckless, willful or wanton conduct. (NRS 41.503) Section 7 repeals that limitation. In a civil action against a provider of health care for professional negligence, existing law creates a rebuttable presumption that an injury or death was caused by the negligence of the provider of health care if the injury or death occurred in certain specified circumstances. However, under existing law, that rebuttable presumption does not apply in an action in which the plaintiff submits certain affidavits from a medical expert or designates an expert witness to establish that a provider of health care deviated from the accepted standard of care. (NRS 41A.100) Section 3 of this bill eliminates those exceptions to the applicability of the rebuttable presumption.

Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 41A.003, 41A.100, 629.470
BDR: 41A.003, 41A.100, 629.470