'Do No Harm' bill could do more harm than good, Guam doctors warn
- Admin
- 5 hours ago
- 4 min read
By Ron Rocky Coloma
Guam's medical community has warned that a bill proposing to replace the arbitration system with a pre-litigation process for medical malpractice complaints could drive physicians away, making it even harder for patients to access care.
Speaking at a press conference held Friday at the Hyatt Regency Guam, physicians and advocates strongly opposed Bill 82-38, titled "Do No Harm: The Anti-Medical Misconduct Act of 2025," which is scheduled for a public hearing on Monday.
Joining doctors in opposing Bill 82-38, Guam Regional Medical Center issued a statement warning that the proposal could result in prolonged legal battles over medical malpractice cases.
The bill, introduced by Sen. William Parkinson, would repeal the medical arbitration law and bring medical malpractice to the courts.
While proponents of the measure argue it protects access to care, Guam’s health care community said the bill would do the opposite — increasing liability risk, inflating costs and reducing the availability of medical services across the island.
“The main thing I want to pass on is that this arbitration law is not meant to protect the physician. It’s meant to protect the patient and ensure that access to care improves,” said Dr. Hoa Nguyen, president of the Guam Medical Center.
“Otherwise, physicians might step back and say, ‘There’s too much risk, we’re not going to take care of this patient," he added.
Nguyen cautioned that while the bill’s language may sound patient-friendly, its passage would create an environment of legal uncertainty that discourages physicians from accepting complex or high-risk cases.
“This law is only to benefit the patient and not to protect the physician alone,” he said, pushing back against claims that doctors want immunity.
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The debate over Bill 82-38 centers on whether medical malpractice claims should be settled through arbitration instead of traditional court trials.
Supporters say arbitration reduces costs and delays. But Guam’s doctors said the change would strip away critical safeguards, discourage providers from practicing on island and leave patients with fewer options for care.
Nguyen addressed concerns about bad actors in the medical field, noting that much of the recent criticism has relied on mischaracterizations.
“We hear a lot of comments that we have bad physicians who did bad things in the states,” Nguyen said. “I'm not quite sure where that's coming from, because you have to go through this national system first.”
He was referring to the National Practitioner Data Bank, a federal registry of malpractice and disciplinary actions.
“To be on the National Bank doesn't mean that you are guilty of that, period,” Nguyen said. “It's just very, very sensitive.”
He added that doctors can be listed for reasons unrelated to malpractice or negligence. “You can have a lawsuit as well as having a heart attack six months after you see somebody, put them wrong or whatever, cough and cold, and if the insurance settled for that, your name would be on it.”
Nguyen also said Guam’s medical board lacks the resources to investigate every flagged case thoroughly. “They don't have the funding to process those things,” he said. “Yes, maybe some cases will be missed. Nothing is 100 percent in medicine.”
Despite the current limitations, Nguyen said the local healthcare community takes patient safety seriously and rejects the idea that this bill improves it.
“We really pay a lot of attention to requests. But again, we are proud of what we do. The patient, we are patient, and those patients are family,” Nguyen said. “When we do things like that, it hurts all of us.”
He recalled a past experience in which he took a stand against unsafe hiring at Guam Memorial Hospital.
“I did speak about my experience from many years ago,” he said. “There was a physician at GMH who was involved in a questionable sexual misconduct case. I was part of the medical staff selection twice, and I refused to support using that physician at GMH during that time.”
Nguyen said existing checks and peer review procedures already help safeguard patients. “There's multiple layers in our medical system that show that the patient's safety comes first,” he said.
But if Bill 82-38 is enacted, physicians warned, those safety nets will be overwhelmed by legal risk, administrative delays and soaring malpractice costs — factors that could force some clinics to reduce services or close.
Physicians cautioned that increased liability risk would operate like a hidden tax on the system. As insurance premiums and legal costs go up, so too will the cost of delivering care and those costs will ultimately be passed down to patients.
Meanwhile, GRMC said Bill 82-38 would not guarantee the justice it seeks to achieve.
"Right now, Guam uses arbitration to handle most malpractice cases. It’s not perfect, but arbitration, when designed and administered fairly, has been shown to provide faster results, with more of the compensation going directly to the patient instead of being spent on legal fees," GRMC said in a statement released Saturday.
The private hospital warned that moving malpractice cases into the court system would only slow down the settlement process and make it costlier for all parties involved.
"All these additional costs will ultimately be passed on to patients, their families, and taxpayers," the hospital said.
GRMC also agreed with the doctors that Bill 82-38 would affect insurance companies that provide malpractice coverage.
"These companies are already extremely limited on Guam. If the law makes things riskier and more expensive for them, they will certainly need to raise their prices dramatically, or at worse, leave the island entirely," GRMC said.
"That would increase the cost of delivering care and severely impair the island’s ability to recruit much-needed specialists. We need to prioritize solutions that lower costs, rather than raise them and provide more healthcare professionals for patients to choose from," the statement reads.
"Instead of pushing through a law that could make things worse, let’s come together—patients, doctors, insurance companies, lawmakers, and community leaders—and work out a lasting solution that preserves our healthcare system and provides patients and their families access to justice," GRMC said.
What a bunch of Bullsh t! If the Doctors were really Professionals, then They wouldn't cause a Malpractice Suit, GRMC is a bunch of MONEY HUNGRY GUESSING DOCTORS! WE NEED TO GET RID OF THIS ARBITRATION B.S THAT KEEPS THESE LOUSY DOCTORS RICH!