The aim of House Bill 1784 is to lower high medical malpractice premiums in Hawaii in order to prevent doctors from leaving the state due to these costs.
The bill calls for the maximum award for non-economic damages to be set at $250,000 for certain physicians who are specialists in certain areas such as emergency medicine, neurological surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedic surgery and general surgery. The cap for gross negligence would be $3 million.
According to the report, Hawaii has no current caps on non-economic damages but limits pain and suffering awards to $375,000. The bill will now go to the state Senate.
Read about Hawaii’s medical tort reform bill.
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