Illinois Supreme Court to rule on Medical Malpractice
This week, the Illinois Supreme Court will release a decision regarding the constitutionality of the state’s medical malpractice law (12/17, AP for FindLaw).
Of particular concern is the Court’s ruling on whether damage awards in medical mistakes may be capped. In 2005, “the General Assembly adopted caps…as a way to keep doctors from fleeing the state because of rising insurance rates” limiting “what victims could collect for non-economic damages such as pain and suffering to $500,000 against doctors and $1 million against hospitals”.
In 2007, a Cook County judge ruled against damage caps holding that they interfered with juries' power to award appropriate damage awards for medical errors. The Supreme Court has twice before thrown out medical malpractice caps.
As a medical malpractice attorney in Chicagoland, I hope the Supreme Court again throws out damage caps. The jury should be able to award case specific damages for pain and suffering as damage caps are highly unfair to those who are catastrophically injured.
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