effective health care liability reforms de-
signed to—
(1) improve the availability of health 
care services in cases in which health 
care liability actions have been shown to 
be a factor in the decreased availability 
of services; 
(2) reduce the incidence of ‘‘defensive 
medicine’’ and lower the cost of health 
care liability insurance, all of which con-
tribute to the escalation of health care 
costs; 
(3) ensure that persons with meri-
torious health care injury claims receive 
fair and adequate compensation, includ-
ing reasonable noneconomic damages; 
(4) improve the fairness and cost-ef-
fectiveness of our current health care li-
ability system to resolve disputes over, 
and provide compensation for, health 
care liability by reducing uncertainty in 
the amount of compensation provided to 
injured individuals; and 
(5) provide an increased sharing of 
information in the health care system
which will reduce unintended injury and 
improve patient care. 
SEC. 3. ENCOURAGING SPEEDY RESOLUTION OF CLAIMS. 
The time for the commencement of a 
health care lawsuit shall be 3 years after the 
date of injury or 1 year after the claimant dis-
covers, or through the use of reasonable dili-
gence should have discovered, the injury, 
whichever occurs first. In no event shall the 
time for commencement of a health care law-
suit exceed 3 years unless tolled for any of the 
following: 
(1) Upon proof of fraud; 
(2) Intentional concealment; or 
(3) The presence of a foreign body, 
which has no therapeutic or diagnostic 
purpose or effect, in the person of the in-
jured person. 
Actions by a minor shall be commenced with-
in 3 years from the date of the alleged injury 
except that actions by a minor under the full 
age of 6 years shall be commenced within 3 
years or prior to the minor’s 8th birthday, 
whichever provides a longer period. Such 
time limitation shall be tolled for minors for
any period during which a parent or guardian 
and a health care provider or health care or-
ganization have committed fraud or collusion 
in the failure to bring an action on behalf of 
the injured minor. 
SEC. 4. COMPENSATING PATIENT INJURY. 
(a) UNLIMITED AMOUNT
OF DAMAGES
FOR 
ACTUAL ECONOMIC LOSSES
IN HEALTH CARE 
LAWSUITS.—In any health care lawsuit, the full 
amount of a claimant’s economic loss may be 
fully recovered without limitation. 
(b) ADDITIONAL NONECONOMIC DAMAGES.—
In any health care lawsuit, the amount of non-
economic damages recovered may be as much 
as $250,000, regardless of the number of par-
ties against whom the action is brought or the 
number of separate claims or actions brought 
with respect to the same occurrence. 
(c) NO
DISCOUNT
OF
AWARD
FOR
NON-
ECONOMIC DAMAGES.—In any health care law-
suit, an award for future noneconomic dam-
ages shall not be discounted to present value. 
The jury shall not be informed about the max-
imum award for noneconomic damages. An 
award for noneconomic damages in excess of
$250,000 shall be reduced either before the 
entry of judgment, or by amendment of the 
judgment after entry of judgment, and such 
reduction shall be made before accounting for 
any other reduction in damages required by 
law. If separate awards are rendered for past 
and future noneconomic damages and the 
combined awards exceed $250,000, the future 
noneconomic damages shall be reduced first. 
(d) FAIR SHARE RULE.—In any health care 
lawsuit, each party shall be liable for that par-
ty’s several share of any damages only and not 
for the share of any other person. Each party 
shall be liable only for the amount of damages 
allocated to such party in direct proportion to 
such party’s percentage of responsibility. A 
separate judgment shall be rendered against 
each such party for the amount allocated to 
such party. For purposes of this section, the 
trier of fact shall determine the proportion of 
responsibility of each party for the claimant’s 
harm. 
SEC. 5. MAXIMIZING PATIENT RECOVERY. 
(a) COURT SUPERVISION OF SHARE OF DAM-
AGES ACTUALLY PAID
TO CLAIMANTS.—In any
health care lawsuit, the court shall supervise 
the arrangements for payment of damages to 
protect against conflicts of interest that may 
have the effect of reducing the amount of 
damages awarded that are actually paid to 
claimants. In particular, in any health care 
lawsuit in which the attorney for a party 
claims a financial stake in the outcome by vir-
tue of a contingent fee, the court shall have 
the power to restrict the payment of a claim-
ant’s damage recovery to such attorney, and 
to redirect such damages to the claimant 
based upon the interests of justice and prin-
ciples of equity. In no event shall the total of 
all contingent fees for representing all claim-
ants in a health care lawsuit exceed the fol-
lowing limits: 
(1) 40 percent of the first $50,000 re-
covered by the claimant(s). 
(2) 331⁄3 percent of the next $50,000 re-
covered by the claimant(s). 
(3) 25 percent of the next $500,000 re-
covered by the claimant(s).
(4) 15 percent of any amount by 
which the recovery by the claimant(s) is 
in excess of $600,000. 
(b) APPLICABILITY.—The limitations in this 
section shall apply whether the recovery is by 
judgment, settlement, mediation, arbitration, 
or any other form of alternative dispute reso-
lution. In a health care lawsuit involving a 
minor or incompetent person, a court retains 
the authority to authorize or approve a fee 
that is less than the maximum permitted 
under this section. 
SEC. 6. ADDITIONAL HEALTH BENEFITS. 
In any health care lawsuit, any party may 
introduce evidence of collateral source bene-
fits. If a party elects to introduce such evi-
dence, any opposing party may introduce evi-
dence of any amount paid or contributed or 
reasonably likely to be paid or contributed in 
the future by or on behalf of the opposing 
party to secure the right to such collateral 
source benefits. No provider of collateral 
source benefits shall recover any amount 
against the claimant or receive any lien or 
credit against the claimant’s recovery or be
upon review of supporting and opposing affi-
davits or after a hearing, after weighing the 
evidence, that the claimant has established by 
a substantial probability that the claimant 
will prevail on the claim for punitive dam-
ages. At the request of any party in a health 
care lawsuit, the trier of fact shall consider in 
a separate proceeding—
(1) whether punitive damages are to 
be awarded and the amount of such 
award; and 
(2) the amount of punitive damages 
following a determination of punitive li-
ability. 
If a separate proceeding is requested, evi-
dence relevant only to the claim for punitive 
damages, as determined by applicable State 
law, shall be inadmissible in any proceeding 
to determine whether compensatory damages 
are to be awarded. 
(b) DETERMINING
AMOUNT
OF
PUNITIVE 
DAMAGES.—
(1) FACTORS
CONSIDERED.—In deter-
mining the amount of punitive damages,
the trier of fact shall consider only the 
following: 
(A) the severity of the harm 
caused by the conduct of such party; 
(B) the duration of the conduct or 
any concealment of it by such party; 
(C) the profitability of the con-
duct to such party; 
(D) the number of products sold 
or medical procedures rendered for 
compensation, as the case may be, by 
such party, of the kind causing the 
harm complained of by the claimant; 
(E) any criminal penalties im-
posed on such party, as a result of the 
conduct complained of by the claim-
ant; and 
(F) the amount of any civil fines 
assessed against such party as a re-
sult of the conduct complained of by 
the claimant. 
(2) MAXIMUM AWARD.—The amount of 
punitive damages awarded in a health 
care lawsuit may be up to as much as two 
times the amount of economic damages
awarded or $250,000, whichever is great-
er. The jury shall not be informed of this 
limitation. 
(c) NO CIVIL MONETARY PENALTIES
FOR 
PRODUCTS THAT COMPLY WITH FDA STAND-
ARDS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—No punitive damages 
may be awarded against the manufac-
turer or distributor of a medical product 
based on a claim that such product 
caused the claimant’s harm where—
(A)(i) such medical product was 
subject to premarket approval or 
clearance by the Food and Drug Ad-
ministration with respect to the safe-
ty of the formulation or performance 
of the aspect of such medical product 
which caused the claimant’s harm or 
the adequacy of the packaging or la-
beling of such medical product; and 
(ii) such medical product was so 
approved or cleared; or 
(B) such medical product is gen-
erally recognized among qualified ex-
perts as safe and effective pursuant
to conditions established by the Food 
and Drug Administration and appli-
cable Food and Drug Administration 
regulations, including without limita-
tion those related to packaging and 
labeling. 
(2) LIABILITY
OF
HEALTH
CARE
PRO-
VIDERS.—A health care provider who pre-
scribes a drug or device (including blood 
products) approved by the Food and 
Drug Administration shall not be named 
as a party to a product liability lawsuit 
involving such drug or device and shall 
not be liable to a claimant in a class ac-
tion lawsuit against the manufacturer, 
distributor, or product seller of such 
drug or device. 
(3) PACKAGING.—In a health care law-
suit for harm which is alleged to relate to 
the adequacy of the packaging or label-
ing of a drug which is required to have 
tamper-resistant packaging under regula-
tions of the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services (including labeling regu-
lations related to such packaging), the
manufacturer or product seller of the 
drug shall not be held liable for punitive 
damages unless such packaging or label-
ing is found by the trier of fact by clear 
and convincing evidence to be substan-
tially out of compliance with such regula-
tions. 
(4) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall 
not apply in any health care lawsuit in 
which—
(A) a person, before or after pre-
market approval or clearance of such 
medical product, knowingly misrepre-
sented to or withheld from the Food 
and Drug Administration information 
that is required to be submitted 
under the Federal Food, Drug, and 
Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) or 
section 351 of the Public Health Serv-
ice Act (42 U.S.C. 262) that is material 
and is causally related to the harm 
which the claimant allegedly suf-
fered; or 
(B) a person made an illegal pay-
ment to an official of the Food and
Drug Administration for the purpose 
of either securing or maintaining ap-
proval or clearance of such medical 
product. 
SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF PAYMENT OF FUTURE DAM-
AGES TO CLAIMANTS IN HEALTH CARE LAW-
SUITS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—In any health care law-
suit, if an award of future damages, without 
reduction to present value, equaling or ex-
ceeding $50,000 is made against a party with 
sufficient insurance or other assets to fund a 
periodic payment of such a judgment, the 
court shall, at the request of any party, enter 
a judgment ordering that the future damages 
be paid by periodic payments in accordance 
with the Uniform Periodic Payment of Judg-
ments Act promulgated by the National Con-
ference of Commissioners on Uniform State 
Laws. 
(b) APPLICABILITY.—This section applies to 
all actions which have not been first set for 
trial or retrial before the effective date of this 
Act.