Kansas Statutes 40-3412. Actions against health care providers or inactive health care providers; no direct action against fund or insurer; inadmissible evidence; fund not liable for certain damages
Terms Used In Kansas Statutes 40-3412
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Fund: means the healthcare stabilization fund established pursuant to Kan. See Kansas Statutes 40-3401
- Insurer: means any corporation, association, reciprocal exchange, inter-insurer and any other legal entity authorized to write bodily injury or property damage liability insurance in this state, including workers compensation and automobile liability insurance, pursuant to the provisions of the acts contained in article 9, 11, 12 or 16 ofchapter 40 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated, and amendments thereto. See Kansas Statutes 40-3401
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Professional services: means patient care or other services authorized under the act governing licensure of a healthcare provider. See Kansas Statutes 40-3401
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
- Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
(a) Any action for personal injury or death arising out of the rendering of or the failure to render professional services by any health care provider or inactive health care provider shall be maintained against such health care provider or inactive health care provider. No claimant shall have any right of action directly against the fund. No claimant shall have any right of action under this act directly against an insurer.
(b) Evidence that a portion of any verdict would be payable from insurance or the fund shall be inadmissible in any such action.
(c) Nothing in this act shall be construed to impose any liability in the fund in excess of that specifically provided for in this act for negligent failure to settle a claim or for failure to settle a claim in good faith.
(d) The fund shall have no obligations whatsoever for payment for punitive damages.
(e) The fund shall not be liable to pay amounts due from a judgment against an inactive health care provider arising from the rendering of professional services as a health care provider contrary to the provisions of this act.
(f) Any action for damages or for approval of a settlement as set forth in Kan. Stat. Ann. § 40-3409, 40-3410 or 40-3411, and amendments thereto, shall be brought in a court of appropriate jurisdiction and venue.