Last week, the Illinois State Supreme Court ruled for the third time that caps on medical malpractice damages are unfair and unconstitutional. Insurance companies have long argued that high medical malpractice verdicts drive up insurance premiums for doctors, drive good doctors out of the state, and raise health care costs for everyone. Many experts disagree, describing these as diversionary tactics used by the insurance companies to distract attention from the meaningful reforms necessary to repair our health care system — reforms which would likely cut into insurance company profit margins.
Medical malpractice damages are not awarded arbitrarily. Our legal system cannot cure the injuries and suffering caused by medical mistakes. The best we can do to make things right for the families who are victims of these errors is to provide money for ongoing care and to approximate the income a family could have been expected to earn were it not for the injuries caused by medical mistakes. Caps on medical malpractice damages would prevent families from receiving the money that their juries determine them to be entitled to. Last week’s decision represents a major victory for working families.
Read more at the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association website: http://www.iltla.com/press-020410.asp