Personal Injury Law

Medical Malpractice Caps Hurt Innocent Victims

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

In an op-ed piece, the head of a state medical society favors continued erosion of patients? rights in favor of the insurance industry by unequivocally supporting medical malpractice caps. An Illinois bill, passed and signed into law in 2005, caps non-economic damages but was deemed unconstitutional by a Cook County judge.

Those most affected by this bill are innocent victims of medical malpractice and negligence and their families. Placing a cap on their recovery takes the decision out of juries? hands, juries that are best able to determine the level of pain and suffering these individuals experience.

One of the primary goals of tort reform is to lower doctor rates for doctors. However, historically, the most successful method to for achieving this goal is insurance regulatory reform, not tort reform. When states, including Illinois, have instituted insurance regulatory reform, rates have dropped and competition has increased. To this extent, tort reform does not benefit patients but helps the insurance industry.

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Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on June 05, 2008 (boomark / email).