Consumer Law

A real example of medical malpractice damage caps

By Justinian Lane

A common suggestion on how to ?reform? the malpractice system is to institute a $250,000 damage cap.  Here?s a real life example of how those caps work.  I?ll leave it to you to decide if this seems fair:

Bashar Ashkar should be at work running the seven-figure engineering firm that bears his name, or helping his wife, Shari, plan his daughter Lauren's fall wedding.

Instead, the 63-year-old spends most days lying down or sitting up in his Houston nursing home room, staring straight ahead at a wall of family pictures.

They're a daily reminder of his life before July 14, 2005, when a steroid injection into his spine for arm and back pain resulted in a cerebral hemorrhage that locked him forever inside a useless body.

To communicate, he relies on what he has left, his ability to nod ?yes? or shake his head ?no? in response to visitors' questions or to spell out his answers from a letter board Lauren or her twin sister, Nora, hold up.

. . . .

For his pain and suffering, Bashar Ashkar received $60,307.60. His wife's ordeal was worth $101,145.28.

Source: Paralyzed in body - and by law | Dead by mistake

Full post as published by TortDeform.com on March 04, 2010 (boomark / email).