Esta ley enmienda las Reglas de Procedimiento Civil para añadir la Regla 41.6, estableciendo un panel de comisionados especiales para casos de negligencia o impericia médica u hospitalaria. El panel, compuesto por un juez o abogado y dos médicos, evaluará los aspectos técnicos de la reclamación para determinar si existe prima facie impericia. La ley busca agilizar estos procesos complejos y reducir la carga judicial.
(Approved December 19, 2002)
To add Rule 41.3 to the Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended, in order to appoint a panel to act as special commissioner in any civil action arising from a claim for damages for negligence or carelessness due to medical or hospital malpractice.
The position of the Special Commissioner is contemplated in the Rules of Civil Procedure as part of our legal code. This person acts as an aid to the court in matters related to difficult accounts or calculation of damages, or in cases dealing with highly technical matters or highly specialized expert knowledge. The lack of this technical knowledge at times hinders the agility of the proceedings, thus affecting all parties because it burdens the courts and delays the solution of the conflicts. This is the situation of claims for damages for medical and hospital malpractice that involve surgeons, health professionals or health care organizations.
Through the use of a special commissioner, by creating a new rule for malpractice cases, an effective mechanism would be provided to administer justice in difficult cases due to their level of complexity. The proposed panel would act as a collective commissioner composed of a judge appointed by the Administrative Judge, who would not be the one to finally adjudicate the controversy and who may delegate his functions in the panel to an attorney that would substitute him, and two physicians. Said composition
would provide an adequate and qualified forum that would benefit the settlement of this type of claim.
The approval of this measure would contribute, in great measure, to discharge the courts from having to act upon frivolous claims and, at the same time, provide the parties with an ample opportunity to present their case, thus guaranteeing a due process of law without detriment to the right of every citizen to file a complaint if he/she understands he/she has suffered some kind of damage.
Section 1.- Rule 41.6 is hereby added to the Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: "Rule 41.6 In any civil action arising from a claim for damages for negligence or carelessness due to medical or hospital malpractice involving a surgeon, health professional and/or health care organization related to a highly technical or specialized subject, the judge of the Court of First Instance shall appoint a panel composed of a judge appointed by the Administrative Judge, who shall not be the one to finally adjudicate the controversy, or at his discretion, may appoint one (1) attorney that would substitute him and preside the panel, and two (2) duly licensed physicians, one recommended by the plaintiff and the other by the defendant. The panel shall render a report to the court with its findings on the technical aspects of the claim presented, strictly limited to examining the medical and hospital issues presented to determine if, from their expert point of view, there exists prima facie malpractice.
The judge shall appoint the panel after having received a special report from the plaintiff within sixty (60) days after the date the complaint was
filed, and from the defendant, within sixty (60) days after the date the complaint was served. The judge shall issue pertinent orders so that the parties may have access to all the necessary documentation in order to present said reports and may modify the terms provided herein in order to effectively deliver said documents. The judge shall have the discretion to retain and act upon the cases that in his judgment should not be handled by the panel for considering that the controversy is not highly specialized or understanding that designating a panel would not contribute to an expedite proceeding of the case. In addition, the panel shall be discharged in any case in which one of the parties certifies to the judge that, it is financially unable to assume the costs of the panel, unless one of the parties in the case accepts to assume the costs of the case.
Once the parties have received the report, any one of them may question the same and the judge shall have discretion to reject or accept its conclusions."
Section 2.- The judge may apply the present Act retroactively in any applicable case without affecting any of the parties.
Section 3.- Nothing of the herein provided shall be applied to the claims filed pursuant to Act No. 35 of June 28, 19994, known as Medical Assistance in Hospitals for Cases of Medical Emergencies."
Section 4.- This Act shall take effect sixty (60) days after its approval.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 283 (S.B. 1743) of the $4^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to add Rule 41.3 to the Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended, in order to appoint a panel to act as special commissioner in any civil action arising from a claim for damages for negligence or carelessness due to medical or hospital malpractice, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $10^{ ext {th }}$ of September of 2004.
Elba Rosa Rodríguez-Fuentes Director