HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 726 FILED ON: 1/12/2009
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1519
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
PRESENTED BY:
Elizabeth A. Malia
_______________
To the Honorable Senate and House of
Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the passage of the accompanying bill:
An Act relative to causation in professional liability.
_________
______
PETITION OF:
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Name:
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District/Address:
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Elizabeth A. Malia
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11th Suffolk
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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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In the Year Two Thousand and Nine
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An Act relative to causation in professional liability.
Be it
enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 60K of Chapter 231 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official
Edition,
is hereby amended
by
inserting after the
end therof
the
following new section:
Section 60
L:
In any action for malpractice, negligence, error, omission, mistake or unauthorized rendering of professional services, against a provider of health care, the plaintiff shall have the
burden of proving the following:
(1) The recognized standard of acceptable professional practice in the profession and the specialty thereof, if any, that the defendant practices in the community in which he practices or in a similar community at the tim
e the alleged injury or wrongful action occurred;
(2) That the defendant acted with less than or failed to act with ordinary and reasonable care in accordance with such standard; and
(3) As a direct and proximate result of the defendant's negligent act or
omission, the plaintiff suffered injuries which would not otherwise have occurred.
(4) The plaintiff
was a patient of the defendant and
had a professional relationship to the defendant which created a duty of c
are on the defendant’s part or
where the
plai
ntiff is
a reasonably identifiable victim
of the patient of a defendant psychotherapist to whom the patient communicated
a serious threat of physical violence against
the plaintiff.
