Hawaii’s first stop: the inquiry and conciliation panel
A Hawaii medical malpractice claim does not start in court. It starts at the Medical Inquiry and Conciliation Panel (MICP), where Haw. Rev. Stat. § 671-12 requires most claims against Hawaii physicians to be filed before any lawsuit. The MICP process is informal and confidential: a chairperson and a physician review the claim, hear from both sides, and attempt conciliation. Nothing said there is admissible later, no one is bound by the outcome, and filing the MICP claim tolls the statute of limitations while the process runs.
For families, the panel is best understood as a mandatory waystation: it adds months to the timeline, it rewards claims that arrive already supported by a physician’s review of the records, and it filters out cases that were never medically sound. Prepared well, it can also open early settlement conversations.
Deadlines and the rule for children under ten
Hawaii’s malpractice statute of limitations is two years from discovery of the injury, inside a six-year outer limit from the act (HRS § 657-7.3). For children the same section provides its own accommodation: a child injured before age ten may bring the claim by the tenth birthday if that allows more time than the six-year limit. For an injury at delivery, age ten is the practical horizon — and the parents’ own claims enjoy no such extension. The interplay of discovery, repose, MICP tolling, and the under-ten rule is exactly the kind of layered question our statute of limitations guide introduces and a records review answers.
Hawaii’s pain-and-suffering cap
Hawaii’s cap is narrower than most people assume. HRS § 663-8.7 limits damages for pain and suffering to $375,000, but that cap applies to one category of non-economic loss only. Economic damages are uncapped: the lifetime cost of a child’s care, therapy, equipment, and lost earning capacity is compensable in full, and in catastrophic birth injury cases it is overwhelmingly the largest component. Other recognized non-economic categories outside pain and suffering also sit outside the cap’s text. Building the life-care plan meticulously is where Hawaii case value is made.
Hawaii deliveries, military hospitals, and the network
Some birth injuries happen even when the care was careful and appropriate, and those cases are not malpractice. The claims that proceed involve preventable failures documented in the records: fetal distress without timely response, delayed cesareans, mismanaged shoulder dystocia, untreated newborn jaundice. The conditions at the center include hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), cerebral palsy, and kernicterus. Most Hawaii deliveries concentrate at Oʻahu’s major maternity and children’s facilities, whose NICU charts and monitoring strips anchor these cases.
Hawaii adds a distinctly federal wrinkle: thousands of military families deliver at Tripler Army Medical Center and other federal facilities. Those claims proceed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, with a two-year administrative claim, no MICP, and different damages law. Since the 2019 Richard Stayskal Act, service members themselves may file administrative malpractice claims for care at military hospitals.
Birth Injury Advocate is an alliance of two law firms: Banville Law (New York and Washington, D.C.) and The Weitz Firm, LLC (Pennsylvania and New Jersey). Neither is licensed in Hawaii. When you contact us about a Hawaii delivery, we connect your family with the alliance’s vetted network of local birth injury attorneys (Hawaii-licensed lawyers who handle the MICP process) or with FTCA counsel when the delivery was federal. The consultation is free, and a fee is owed only if there is a recovery.
Civilian hospital or Tripler? MICP or federal claim? The right path depends on where your child was born, and the free records review sorts it out before any deadline decides for you.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to file a birth injury claim in Hawaii?
Two years from discovery inside a six-year outer limit (HRS § 657-7.3); a child injured before age ten may file until the tenth birthday if that is longer. Filing with the Medical Inquiry and Conciliation Panel tolls the clock, and federal-facility deliveries follow the FTCA’s separate two-year rule.
Does Hawaii cap damages in birth injury cases?
Only narrowly. HRS § 663-8.7 caps pain-and-suffering damages at $375,000, but economic damages, including the lifetime cost of a child’s care, are uncapped and typically dominate catastrophic birth injury cases.
What is Hawaii’s Medical Inquiry and Conciliation Panel?
A mandatory pre-suit step under HRS § 671-12: most malpractice claims must be submitted to the informal, confidential MICP before a lawsuit may be filed. The panel’s proceedings are inadmissible in court, and the submission tolls the statute of limitations.
Sources
- Haw. Rev. Stat. § 657-7.3: limitations for medical torts; provisions for minors under ten.
- Haw. Rev. Stat. § 671-12: mandatory submission to the Medical Inquiry and Conciliation Panel.
- Haw. Rev. Stat. § 663-8.7: $375,000 limit on pain-and-suffering damages.
- Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2671 et seq.; National Defense Authorization Act for FY2020, § 731 (Stayskal provisions): claims arising at military medical facilities.
This page is for general education and is not legal advice; statutes and cases are cited by name and number so you can verify them, and deadlines depend on facts specific to your case. Legal statements reflect the reviewing attorneys’ professional experience. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.