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2005 General Session
2005 General Session
2005 General Session
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Wyoming voters passed a constitutional amendment in November 2004 that allowed the Legislature to establish a medical review panel to review medical malpractice cases before they go to trial.
HB 83, HB 306 and SF 62 were all aimed at creating a new medical review panel as now permitted under the amended Constitution. The proposed panels offered by the three bills would hear medical malpractice cases and offer an opinion on them before cases proceeded to court.
HB 83, sponsored by the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee, proposed a panel comprised of two doctors, two attorneys and one layperson. The decisions of the panel proposed under this bill would not have been admissible in court.
HB 306 and SF 62 were identical bills. Their panel would have been comprised of two doctors and one attorney, and its findings would have been admissible in court.
Proponents of the medical review panel believed that, by weeding out frivolous lawsuits, it would help slow the rise in medical malpractice insurance rates for doctors, and thus help doctors maintain their ability to practice in Wyoming.
Opponents of review panels argued that, if the panel were improperly constructed, it could primarily serve to delay, and thus deny, citizen's access to justice in medical malpractice cases. Some were specifically opposed to HB 306 and SF 62 because they believed that the makeup of the panel proposed under this bill would be unfairly biased to favor doctors, and they worried that requiring the findings of the panel to be admitted in subsequent court cases could bias a jury. Some legislators wanted to ensure that the function of the panel was limited to identifying frivolous lawsuits, but that it not force participants to go through a pseudo trial before they ever got to court.
HB 306 and SF 62 were laid aside in favor of HB 83, which became the legislative vehicle for the medical review panel. HB 83 underwent numerous amendments as it progressed through the Legislature. The version passed by the House was fairly similar to the bill as it was introduced, with the panel composed of two physicians, two attorneys and one layperson. A judge would decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not the findings of the panel were admissible in court. The House passed HB 83 in this form, 57-2 (1 excused).
The Senate amended the bill numerous times, changing the composition of the panel, the standard of evidence required to reach a decision, and the admissibility of the panel's decision as the bill proceeded from one reading to the next. Finally, as passed by the Senate, the most controversial components of HB 83 ended up much as the House had chosen. The Senate's panel consisted of two doctors, two lawyers and one lay person, and admissibility was conditional, meaning that the judge would decide whether the panel's decision would be admitted during a subsequent trial. The Senate finally passed the bill in this form, 27-3.
The House unanimously rejected the Senate version of the bill, which sent it into a conference committee on the day before the Legislature was scheduled to adjourn. The only real differences between the bills at this point involved whether the panel should have the power to call witnesses, and how the decision of the panel should be phrased. The House wanted the panel to be allowed to call witnesses, while the Senate did not. The Senate wanted the panel to decide whether or not a claim involved "potential malpractice", while the House favored the terminology of "substantial evidence" and "reasonable probability" that malpractice had occurred and caused the injury or death.
The conference committee decided to allow the panel to call witnesses, and to use the substantial evidence/reasonable probability language for panel decisions. Both the House and the Senate accepted the conference committee version, and the bill was signed into law by Governor Freudenthal.
The votes listed below are the House and Senate third reading (final passage) votes. A YES vote means the legislator supported a medical review panel composed of two physicians, two attorneys and one layperson, with a judge to decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not the panel's decision would be admissible in court. A NO vote means the legislator did not support a medical review panel in this form.
| Bighorn Basin Legislators | House 3rd 2/9/05 | Senate 3rd 3/1/05 |
|
| S 18 | Hank Coe (R) | Yes | |
| H 24 | Colin Simpson (R) | Yes | |
| H 50 | Pat Childers (R) | No | |
| S 19 | Laness D. Northrup (R) | Yes | |
| H 25 | Alan Jones (R) | Yes | |
| H 26 | Elaine Harvey (R) | Yes | |
| S 20 | Gerald E. Geis (R) | Yes | |
| H 27 | Debbie Hammons (D) | Yes | |
| H 28 | Lorraine Quarberg (R) | Yes | |
| Casper-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/9/05 | Senate 3rd 3/1/05 |
|
| S 27 | John Barrasso (R) | Yes | |
| H 35 | Roy Cohee (R) | Yes | |
| H 36 | Gerald Gay (R) | Yes | |
| S 28 | Kit Jennings (R) | Yes | |
| H 56 | Tom Walsh (R) | Yes | |
| H 57 | Thomas A. Lockhart (R) | Yes | |
| S 29 | Bill Hawks (R) | Yes | |
| H 37 | Steve Harshman (R) | Yes | |
| H 59 | Mary Gilmore (D) | Yes | |
| S 30 | Charles K. Scott (R) | No | |
| H 38 | Bob Brechtel (R) | Yes | |
| H 58 | Ann Robinson (D) | Yes | |
| Cheyenne-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/9/05 | Senate 3rd 3/1/05 |
|
| S 4 | Tony Ross (R) | Yes | |
| H 7 | Doug Samuelson (R) | Yes | |
| H 41 | Becket Hinckley (R) | Yes | |
| S 5 | John Hanes (R) | Yes | |
| H 8 | Larry Meuli (R) | Yes | |
| H 42 | Pete Illoway (R) | Yes | |
| S 6 | Wayne H. Johnson (R) | Yes | |
| H 9 | Bryan Pedersen (R) | Yes | |
| H 10 | Rodney "Pete" Anderson (R) | Yes | |
| S 7 | Kathryn Sessions (D) | Yes | |
| H 11 | Wayne Reese (D) | Yes | |
| H 43 | Dan Zwonitzer (R) | Yes | |
| S 8 | E. Jayne Mockler (D) | No | |
| H 12 | Layton Morgan (D) | Yes | |
| H 44 | Floyd Esquibel (D) | Yes | |
| Gillette-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/9/05 | Senate 3rd 3/1/05 |
|
| S 23 | John Hines (R) | Yes | |
| H 31 | Thomas E. Lubnau II (R) | Yes | |
| H 52 | Burke Jackson (R) | Yes | |
| S 24 | Michael Von Flatern (R) | Yes | |
| H 32 | Jeff Wasserburger (R) | Yes | |
| H 53 | Frank Latta (R) | Yes | |
| Lander/Riverton-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/9/05 | Senate 3rd 3/1/05 |
|
| S 25 | Cale Case (R) | Yes | |
| H 33 | W. Patrick Goggles (D) | Yes | |
| H 54 | Del McOmie (R) | Yes | |
| S 26 | Robert A. Peck (R) | Yes | |
| H 34 | Frank Philp (R) | Yes | |
| H 55 | David Miller (R) | Yes | |
| Northeast/East Central WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/9/05 | Senate 3rd 3/1/05 |
|
| S 1 | C.L. Townsend (R) | Yes | |
| H 1 | Mark Semlek (R) | Yes | |
| H 2 | Ross Diercks (D) | Yes | |
| S 2 | Jim Anderson (R) | Yes | |
| H 5 | James C. Hageman (R) | Yes | |
| H 6 | Dave Edwards (R) | Yes | |
| S 3 | Curt Meier (R) | Yes | |
| H 3 | Deborah Alden (R) | Yes | |
| H 4 | Edward A. Buchanan (R) | Yes | |
| Sheridan-Area Legislators | House 3rd 2/9/05 | Senate 3rd 3/1/05 |
|
| S 21 | Bruce Burns (R) | Yes | |
| H 29 | Jerry Iekel (R) | Yes | |
| H 51 | Rosie Berger (R) | Yes | |
| S 22 | John Schiffer (R) | Yes | |
| H 30 | Jack Landon (R) | Yes | |
| H 40 | Doug Osborn (R) | No | |
| South Central WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/9/05 | Senate 3rd 3/1/05 |
|
| S 9 | Mike Massie (D) | Yes | |
| H 13 | Jane Warren (D) | Yes | |
| H 45 | Kevin A. White (R) | Yes | |
| S 10 | Phil Nicholas (R) | Yes | |
| H 14 | Kermit C. Brown (R) | Yes | |
| H 46 | James Slater (R) | Yes | |
| S 11 | Bill Vasey (D) | Yes | |
| H 15 | George Bagby (D) | Yes | |
| H 47 | Kurt Bucholz (R) | Yes | |
| Southwest WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/9/05 | Senate 3rd 3/1/05 |
|
| S 12 | Rae Lynn Job (D) | No | |
| H 48 | Marty Martin (D) | Yes | |
| H 16 | Pete Jorgensen (D) | Excused | |
| S 13 | Tex Boggs (D) | Yes | |
| H 17 | Stephen Watt (R) | Yes | |
| H 60 | Bill Thompson (D) | Yes | |
| S 14 | Stan Cooper (R) | Yes | |
| H 18 | Mick Powers (R) | Yes | |
| H 39 | John Hastert (D) | Yes | |
| S 15 | Ken Decaria (D) | Yes | |
| H 19 | Owen Petersen (R) | Yes | |
| H 49 | Bruce Barnard (R) | Yes | |
| West Central WY Legislators | House 3rd 2/9/05 | Senate 3rd 3/1/05 |
|
| S 16 | Pat Aullman (R) | Yes | |
| H 20 | Kathy Davison (R) | Yes | |
| H 21 | Randall Luthi (R) | Yes | |
| S 17 | Grant Larson (R) | Yes | |
| H 22 | Monte Olsen (R) | Yes | |
| H 23 | Keith Gingery (R) | Yes | |
See Southwest Region for H 16 and S 12 | |||