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Health Law

: Cerebral Palsy Law Blog

Lawsuit filed to Challenge Texas Medical Malpractice Caps

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The Malpractice Cap Law in Texas is just SO arbitrary. Now, I don't believe that malpractice caps actually drive down insurance rates. (That position is probably no surprise to anyone reading this as I am a plaintiff's lawyer)

Here's the thing: If you set caps at a hard number then all you do is cap the amount that insurance companies pay. Look at California. They set malpractice caps years ago and they have never changed them for inflation. So rates go up because of inflation, but the payout to victims can never go up. What that does it puts the burden of medical mistakes on the injured, the victims of medical malpractice.

Here's part of the article in Texas:

Former Dallas Cowboy Ron Springs, who has been in a coma since the fall after surgery to remove a cyst, is one of 11 plaintiffs challenging Texas' medical malpractice cap in a lawsuit filed Monday.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall, challenges the 2003 Medical Malpractice and Tort Reform Act, which limits awards in Texas. The lawsuit asks the court to declare the cap unconstitutional.
The law caps awards for pain and suffering at $250,000 for doctors, $250,000 for hospitals and $250,000 for nursing homes and other institutions for a maximum of $750,000 per claimant.

Source: Houston Chronicle

Full post as published by Cerebral Palsy Law Blog on February 26, 2008 (boomark / email).