Court Opinion

ID: 9543455
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:45:46.873727+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:10:23.843315
License: Public Domain

THOMAS, Justice,
specially concurring, with whom URBIGKIT, Justice, joins.
It is fortunate that §§ 1, 2 and 3 of the Constitution of the State of Wyoming did not structure the Supreme Court as a debating society. It surely would have become one of the most grand and glorious of such bodies in all history if it had been permitted that role.
The oath of office with which I am familiar encompasses fidelity to “the constitution of this state.” It is that fidelity to the constitution which imparts efficacy to the separation of powers doctrine. I am satisfied that the Wyoming Medical Review Panel Act, §§ 9-2-1501 through 9-2-1511, W.S.1977 (June 1987 Repl.), must be declared unconstitutional. The other members of the majority assign primary significance to Art. 1, § 2 of the Constitution of the State of Wyoming, and justify declaring the statute to be unconstitutional on the ground that it invades the equal protection standard. The conclusion is that there is no rational basis for creating a class consisting of victims of medical malpractice. I do not disagree with that approach, but I also would declare the statute to be unconstitutional under Art. 1, § 8, and Art. 2, § 1 of the Constitution of the State of Wyoming.
In further support of the conclusion that the statutory classification is unconstitutional, Farley v. Engelken, Kan., 740 P.2d 1058 (1987), is significant and persuasive. The case addressed a statutory exception to the collateral source rule in favor of medical malpractice actions. In a thoughtful and provacative opinion, the Kansas Supreme Court concluded that a “heightened scrutiny” test should be applied to victims of medical malpractice as a “quasi-*785suspect” class. The Wyoming Medical Review Panel Act, in requiring executive department review of claims submitted by victims of medical malpractice before they may file an action in the courts, parallels the Kansas statute creating an exception for the collateral source rule in medical malpractice cases.
The Kansas court concluded that a Kansas citizen has a right, recognized and protected by its constitution, to a remedy for injury to person or property and that such a right justifies invoking the higher level of scrutiny. The “heightened scrutiny” standard, which it applied, eschews a presumption of constitutionality, which must be overcome by one who challenges the statute when the rational basis test is invoked and requires greater justification for the classification. At the other end of the spectrum, the standard also eschews the heavy burden of proof placed on the state to demonstrate a compelling state interest, which the “strict scrutiny” standard requires. Instead, as explained by the Kansas court, the “heightened scrutiny” standard requires “the statutory classification to substantially further a legitimate legislative purpose.” In reaching this determination, the “heightened scrutiny” analysis requires that the interests of the burdened class be balanced against those of the benefited class, in the context of the legislative purpose. This standard peculiarly is applicable in an instance such as this, which does not involve any political question of importance to the state but essentially touches upon private interests. Utilization of the “heightened scrutiny” standard in this case seems eminently fair.
Analysis of the Wyoming Medical Review Panel Act in this context leads to the conclusion that, while the burdened class (victims of medical malpractice) are required to wait at least an additional four months, and quite possibly much longer, in order to pursue their claims, the benefited class (the health care providers) really gain no advantage. The Wyoming Medical Review Panel Act serves only as an impediment to pursuing a claim for medical malpractice, providing no recourse to anyone. The ultimate product, which is not binding on any participant, is a decision reached in a proceeding, which is to be held in confidence. The process delays, for a minimum of 120 days, the right of the claimant to file a civil action, and there is no limit upon the period to which the proceeding may be extended for good cause.
It almost seems that the Medical Review Panel Act process becomes an end in itself. Perhaps the real purpose simply was to spend state money to pursue such a review. The five panel members must be paid $40 per hour for the time spent in hearings and the time traveling to the hearings, as well as be reimbursed for their travel and per diem expenses. In lean times, the appropriation of some $200,000 for a process that produces no result certainly is suspect. Legislation that apparently furthers only an academic interest does not serve to accomplish any goal, never mind a legitimate state interest.
I agree that this statute is unconstitutional under even a rational basis test, but it is quite clear that it cannot be sustained under the “heightened scrutiny” test. Setting apart victims of medical malpractice from victims of other tortious conduct as a separate class is patently unrelated to any reasonable or rational state purpose, nor can it be justified by any state of facts that reasonably might be conceived. Of a certainty, there is no legitimate legislative purpose for this classification that would survive the “heightened scrutiny” test.
It may be that some of the events alluded to in the various newspaper articles and other documents in the dissenting opinion actually occurred. I recall arguments to the effect that legislation such as this was necessary in Wyoming to maintain medical services. The argument was, in substance, that medical care providers would cease practicing their profession because of the increasing cost of malpractice insurance. The record, however, does not teach us any of that. The fact of responsible jurisprudence is that the members of this court are called in every case, in accordance with their respective constitutional oaths, which are administered pursuant to Art. 6, § 10 of the Constitution of the State of Wyo-
*786ming, to review the record before the court to test the constitutionality of any statute, in this instance, the Wyoming Medical Review Panel Act, §§ 9-2-1501 through 9-2-1511, W.S.1977 (June 1987 Repl.). The majority of the court must, under recognized principles, look only to the record to arrive at a decision.
If one were to believe the manifestation of a crisis in this instance, one would have to recognize that the strange bedfellows in this political suite were (1) those who furnished medical care and services, who are seeking to maintain profits by reducing insurance premiums as much as possible, and (2) insurance carriers, who are seeking to maintain profits not necessarily by reducing insurance premiums but, hopefully, by inhibiting any victims of medical malpractice from being compensated out of the reserves funded by those premiums. However this bedfellowship may be described, there can be little question that these groups represent a politically powerful coalition. There is some apparent validity to the argument that it is necessary to maintain a profit posture for insurance carriers so that they will continue to write the coverage. The assumption, which has not necessarily been tested, is that unjust claims are being prosecuted successfully, and this assumption may be a fallacy. There is another assumption that medical care providers, particularly doctors, pursue their profession only because of economic motivations. In my judgment, that assumption is subject to challenge and well may be a fallacy. Even if these assumptions were conceded to be true, there is nothing in the Wyoming Medical Review Panel Act that would inhibit the prosecution of unjust claims or would necessarily reduce the insurance premiums paid by physicians. Fascinating as these arguments may be, they have no relevance to the resolution of the issues posed in this case.
If it be taken as true that the medical practitioners and their insurance carriers orchestrated the events alluded to in the dissenting opinion, they must have been very frustrated because the legislature did not learn the tune, at least not well enough to play it back. While this court is encouraged to rely upon the public debate that occurred in Wyoming, and elsewhere, in order to decide this case, in terms of the record, we need examine only the articulation of the purpose found in § 9-2-1502, W.S.1977 (June 1982 Repl.), which states:
“The purpose of this act is to prevent where possible the filing in court of actions against health care providers and their employees for professional liability in situations where the facts do not permit at least a reasonable inference of malpractice and to make possible the fair and equitable disposition of such claims against health care providers as are, or reasonably may be, well founded.”
This statement addresses private interests only. There is not a hint of any public interest to be served. Some say we cannot ignore the furor which claimed to articulate a public interest. If the legislature, however, chose to ignore that drama in its statement of the purpose for the legislation, the court must follow suit. Limiting the justification for the statute to the purpose stated by the legislature, which the record demands we do, it is clear that there is no legitimate legislative purpose nor any valid state interest, which is achieved or furthered by this legislation. It speaks to private interests only.
While I am prepared to agree with the majority’s conclusion that the Wyoming Medical Review Panel Act violates Art. 1, § 2 of the Constitution of the State of Wyoming, my focus is upon Art. 1, § 8. It is interesting to compare the language of the articulated legislative purpose with the specific provisions of Art. 1, § 8, which reads:
“All courts shall be open and every person for an injury done to person, reputation or property shall have justice administered without sale, denial or delay.” (Emphasis added.)
The Supreme Court of Missouri declared a similar legislative scheme unconstitutional pursuant to a substantially identical article of that state’s constitution. State ex rel. Cardinal Glennon Memorial Hospital for Children v. Gaertner, Mo., 583 S.W.2d 107 (1979). See also Jiron v. Mah*787lab, 99 N.M. 425, 659 P.2d 311 (1983) (declaring unconstitutional a New Mexico statute providing for a review panel, in light of a similar constitutional provision, as applied to the circumstances of the case); cf., People ex rel. Christiansen v. Connell, 2 Ill.2d 332, 118 N.E.2d 262 (1954). The fact that there is no limit upon the duration of the Medical Review Panel Act proceedings is an additional reason to declare it unconstitutional pursuant to Art. 1, § 8 of the Constitution of the State of Wyoming. See Aldana v. Holub, Fla., 381 So.2d 231 (1980); Mattos v. Thompson, [491] Pa. [385], 421 A.2d 190 (1980). Because this legislation engenders delay in presenting claims in the judicial branch, without accomplishing any legislative purpose or serving any state interest on behalf of Wyoming citizens, I find it unconstitutional under Art. 1, § 8 of the Constitution of the State of Wyoming.
In addition to being invalid under Art. 1, §§ 2 and 8 of the Constitution of the State of Wyoming, I am satisfied that the effort to structure a review of a legal remedy by a panel created within the executive department of government, prior to pursuing the available remedy in the judicial department, runs afoul of Art. 2, § 1 of the Constitution of the State of Wyoming. I also would declare the Medical Review Panel Act unconstitutional under that article. There are times in which the significance of the separation of powers doctrine, found in Art. 2 of the Constitution of the State of Wyoming, is that the judicial branch of government must recognize the interests of the politically powerless and speak for those interests in order to defend the concept of justice. Future victims of potential medical malpractice fit within this principle.