There is created the South Carolina Patients' Compensation Fund (fund) for the purpose of paying that portion of a medical malpractice or general liability claim, settlement, or judgment which is in excess of two hundred thousand dollars for each incident or in excess of six hundred thousand dollars in the aggregate for one year, up to the amounts specified by the board pursuant to Section 38-79-430. The fund is liable only for payment of claims against licensed health care providers (providers) in compliance with the provisions of this article and includes reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in payment of claims and the fund's administrative expense.

HISTORY: Former 1976 Code Section 38-59-120 [1976 Act No. 674 Section 2] recodified as Section 38-79-420 by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 1; 1990 Act No. 584, Section 1; 2003 Act No. 73, Section 17, eff June 25, 2003; 2008 Act No. 348, Section 8, eff June 16, 2008.

Editor's Note

2005 Act No. 32, Section 15, provides as follows:

"As a majority of the health care community is insured through the South Carolina Medical Malpractice Joint Underwriting Association and the Patients' Compensation Fund and as it is essential for the General Assembly to understand the effects of changes to tort laws, the South Carolina Department of Insurance is given authority to request data regarding changes in claims practices from the South Carolina Medical Malpractice Joint Underwriting Association and the Patients' Compensation Fund. Such data may include paid claims, paid loss adjustment expense, case reserves, bulk reserves, and claim counts by quarter for the previous five years. The department may make such a request of the South Carolina Medical Malpractice Joint Underwriting Association and the Patients' Compensation Fund and such information must be provided within thirty days.

"The Department of Insurance shall report annually to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Governor as to whether this and other related enactments have resulted in reductions in premiums and as to any other trends of significance which might impact premium cost."

2005 Act No. 32, Section 21(B), provides as follows:

"Upon approval by the Governor, this act takes effect July 1, 2005, for causes of action arising after July 1, 2005, except that as of this act's effective date, the State Treasurer shall relinquish the management of funds in the Patients' Compensation Fund, created pursuant to Section 38-79-420, to the Board of Governors of the fund, and premiums paid on or after this act's effective date must be deposited with the Board of Governors of the fund. The fund must be fully transferred to the Board of Governors, and the State Treasurer may not hold any deposits of the fund as of ninety days after this act's effective date."