Medical Negligence & Medical Malpractice in Honolulu, Hawaii

Medical Negligence / Medical Malpractice

Under Hawaii Law, medical providers who operate in the State of Hawaii, such as hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, residential care homes, doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals, are required to provide health care to patients which meets the professional standards required of them.

When a medical provider is negligent in providing medical services and/or otherwise fails to meet the required standard of care and a patient is injured or loses his/her/their life as a result, the responsible medical provider is subject to liability for the loss and damages that occur.

Where a patient dies, a second statute comes into play alongside the medical tort rules below. Hawaii’s wrongful death statute, HRS §663-3, sets out which surviving family members may bring a claim for their own losses, and it carries its own two-year period running from the date of death.

Hawaii Requires a Pre-Suit Panel Before You Can File

Hawaii medical tort claims follow a procedural path that does not exist in ordinary injury cases. Under Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter 671, a person with concerns about the existence of a medical tort must submit a written inquiry to a Medical Inquiry and Conciliation Panel before a lawsuit based on those circumstances may be commenced in any court of this State (HRS §671-12). The inquiry must set out the facts on which it is based and name the parties against whom the inquiry is or may be made who are then known.

A panel is convened for each inquiry filed and is disbanded once the inquiry is resolved, a notice of termination is filed, or a suit based on the circumstances is filed in a court of competent jurisdiction (HRS §671-11). Where all parties agree in writing, an inquiry may instead be submitted directly to an alternative dispute resolution process.

This step is a gate, not a formality. Filing suit without first satisfying it exposes a claim to dismissal, which is one reason medical negligence matters in Hawaii should be evaluated well before any deadline approaches.

What the Panel Does and Does Not Decide

The panel process is confidential and is designed to encourage early resolution rather than to decide the case. Under HRS §671-16, no statement made in the course of panel proceedings is admissible in evidence at a later trial as an admission, to impeach the credibility of a witness, or for any other purpose, and no decision, conclusion, finding, statement, or recommendation of the panel on the issue of liability or damages may be admitted into evidence in a subsequent trial. The statute attaches one exception to both of those rules: such statements and findings may be admissible for the purpose of HRS §671-19, which places a duty on the parties, the health care providers, and their insurers to cooperate and participate meaningfully in the panel proceedings, and allows the panel to assess costs and attorney’s fees against a party who does not.

Filing an inquiry also affects timing. Under HRS §671-18, filing with the panel tolls any applicable statute of limitations, and the limitations period remains tolled until sixty days after the panel terminates. If panel proceedings are not completed within twelve months, the statute of limitations resumes running and the party who filed the inquiry may then commence suit in state court based on the circumstances of the inquiry.

Deadlines in Hawaii Medical Negligence Cases

Medical torts have their own limitations statute. HRS §657-7.3 requires an action for injury or death against a listed health care provider — including physicians, dentists, nurses, chiropractors, and clinical laboratory technologists, among others — to be brought within two years after the plaintiff discovers, or through the use of reasonable diligence should have discovered, the injury. The statute also sets an outer limit: in general, no such action may be brought more than six years after the date of the alleged act or omission causing the injury or death, regardless of when the injury is discovered.

That six-year outer limit is tolled for any period during which the provider has failed to disclose an act, error, or omission on which the action is based and which is known to the provider. Because medical injuries are often discovered long after the treatment that caused them, the interaction between the discovery rule, the six-year limit, and the panel tolling provision in HRS §671-18 is frequently the first issue to work through in a Hawaii malpractice matter.

What a Medical Negligence Claim Has to Establish

A medical negligence claim rests on the same framework as other Hawaii negligence claims — duty, breach, causation, and damages — applied to a professional standard of care. The central question is not whether the outcome was disappointing, but whether the care provided fell below the standard required of a reasonably competent provider in the same field, and whether that failure caused the harm.

Because that comparison is a medical judgment rather than a lay one, these cases generally require review and testimony from qualified medical experts, and they depend heavily on a complete set of records. Requesting and preserving the full chart — including imaging, nursing notes, medication administration records, and any electronic audit trail — matters early.

Hawaii’s comparative negligence rule applies here as well. Under HRS §663-31, contributory negligence does not bar recovery so long as the injured person’s negligence was not greater than the negligence of the parties from whom recovery is sought, with any damages diminished in proportion to the injured person’s share of fault.

Frequently Asked Questions

Have You Been a Victim of Medical Malpractice?

If you are a resident of Honolulu or any City or County within the State of Hawaii and you have been injured or have lost a loved one due to medical negligence / medical malpractice, please do not hesitate to contact my Honolulu office so that I may:

• Evaluate your potential claims
• Advise you of your rights
• Pursue the necessary legal action to hold the responsible party/parties accountable for your injuries and losses