In 2005 an Illinois state law was passed that capped the monetary compensation a plaintiff could receive in a medical malpractice lawsuit.
On Wednesday Judge Diane Larsen of the Cook County Circuit Court ruled that lawmakers could not impede the rights of judge and jury to decide fair compensation. Larsen determined that the caps were in violation of the “separation of powers†clause in the Illinois Constitution.
In medical malpractice lawsuits there are economic damages and non-economic damages. Economic damages cover medical bills and money lost from missing work. Pain and suffering of the plaintiff is compensated under non-economic damages. The latter type was capped at $500,000 for doctors and $1 million for hospitals by the 2005 legislation.
Many Texas citizens may remember an aggressive marketing during the 2003 election campaign in favor of Proposition 12. The messages sent by Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Medical Association in speeches, flyers and brochures was that high jury awards in medical malpractice cases were driving up insurance rates and driving obstetricians out of rural Texas. With our state’s medical malpractice cap still in place, the number of Texas counties without obstetricians is about the same.
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