P.R. Laws tit. 20, § 135a
In addition to any other information required under this chapter, the following reports shall be required under the circumstances set forth below:
(1) When the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is sued or receives an extrajudicial claim for an act of alleged professional malpractice by a physician, surgeon or osteopath, the Secretary of Health of Puerto Rico shall so notify the Board and the Insurance Commissioner in those cases in which the Department of Health is a defendant, within a term not to exceed thirty (30) days as of the date on which he/she is sued or receives the extrajudicial claim.
(2) When a municipality is sued or receives an extrajudicial claim for a professional act by a medical surgeon or an osteopath, the mayor of such municipality shall so notify the Board and the Patient Compensation Fund Administration, within a term not to exceed thirty (30) days as of the date on which he/she is sued or receives the extrajudicial claim.
(3) The Court Administration Office shall notify the Board and the Puerto Rico Insurance Commissioner of any judgment against a physician and/or a health care institution, whereby a claim is made for fault or negligence in rendering medical or hospital services, within a term not to exceed thirty (30) days as of the date on which a copy of the notice of judgment is entered into the records; Provided, That this provision shall include judgments discharged due to dismissal or desistance, and judgments by settlement agreements.
(4) Any person who files before the General Court of Justice of Puerto Rico or before the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, a lawsuit against a physician, a health care institution, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and/or a municipality whereby a claim is made due to fault or negligence in rendering medical or hospital services, must provide notice, together with a copy of the lawsuit, to the Board and the Puerto Rico Insurance Commissioner at the time the lawsuit is filed.
The Medical Discipline and Licensure Board shall remit to the Puerto Rico Insurance Commissioner and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Puerto Rico, free of charge, within the first fifteen (15) days of each calendar year, a certified copy of the register of physicians holding regular, endorsed, temporary, special, permanent and provisional licenses in effect on January 1 of each year, to be issued free of charge.
The Medical Discipline and Licensure Board shall notify to the Puerto Rico Insurance Commissioner, the Secretary of Health, the Puerto Rico Hospital Association, and the institution for which the physician renders or rendered services, any Resolution or order whereby disciplinary sanctions are imposed on a physician or osteopath for medical malpractice. Such notice shall be given not later than thirty (30) days following the date on which the order or Resolution whereby any of the disciplinary sanctions provided for under this chapter are imposed, is rendered final and binding.
Likewise, the Board, by request of any natural or juridical person, shall give notice as to final and binding orders or resolutions issued against a physician or osteopath for medical malpractice.
The Board shall render an annual report to the Governor of Puerto Rico, the Secretary of Health, and the Legislature on the number of complaints lodged against license-holding physicians or osteopaths, the cases settled judicially or out of court, and those adjudicated by the courts in damages due to fault, negligence and professional malpractice, as well as the action taken by the Medical Discipline and Licensure Board in each case concerning the physician or osteopath. The Insurance Commissioner shall provide the Medical Discipline and Licensure Board, when the latter so requests, with any information germane to the aforementioned cases and the information it deems necessary for purposes of strict compliance with the provisions of this section.
History —Aug. 1, 2008, No. 139, § 32, eff. Jan 1, 2009.