In June 2017, a new law went into effect in Kentucky, which calls for "Medical Review Panels" to review medical negligence cases before they can be filed in the court house. Sen. Ralph Alvarado (R-Winchester), who is also a physician, sponsored the legislation with the intention of limiting medical malpractice litigation in Kentucky. Now that SB4 is in effect, an individual who wants to file a medical malpractice lawsuit must first file a complaint with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which would then convene a panel to review the claim and decide if the case has sufficient merit to proceed to trial. There is a fee to file a complaint. If both parties agree, the review panel can be bypassed and the plaintiff can proceed to file their lawsuit. USA Today reported that Alvarado said this new law will eliminate “frivolous, nonsense lawsuits” that “happen all the time,” which is a completely debunked statement which attempts to support the idea that there is a medical malpractice crisis in the United States, but that is just not true. Attempts at tort reform have been going on for decades while there is no evidence that the so-called crisis even exists. In a story in the Washington Post, Michael Matray, editor of Medical Liability Monitor, was quoted, "It's a wonderful time for doctors looking for coverage, and it's never been better for insurers." The story reports that doctors are paying less for malpractice insurance than they did in 2001, and the rate of claims has dropped by half since 2003. Prior to the passage of this new law, if an individual suffered an injury because of medical negligence, for example, if the doctor had misdiagnosed a disease, or a nurse made a pharmaceutical error, the injured party would have to show evidence of the following before they could pursue a civil claim for medical negligence: There existed a doctor-patient relationship, which shows the doctor's duty of care to the patient
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- The physician or other medical professional violated the standard of care
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- The patient suffered an injury
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- The violation or breach of the accepted standard of cares was the direct cause of the patient’s injury