Court Upholds Malpractice Verdict Limits
In a decision expected to slow spiraling insurance premiums for physicians in California, a federal appeals court Friday upheld the constitutionality of California’s $250,000 limit on damages for pain and suffering caused by medical malpractice.
The decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a ruling by a federal judge in Los Angeles that said the limit was unconstitutional.
The lower court had said the state’s limit treated medical malpractice victims with pain and suffering losses differently than other victims, while not actually achieving the goal of lowering malpractice insurance.
The ruling by the three-member federal panel comes in the wake of a recent state Supreme Court decision that also upheld the $250,000 limit.
The $250,000 limit, which applies to no other type of injury cases, was a key provision of the state’s 1975 medical malpractice law sponsored by doctors in an attempt to curb their rising insurance costs.
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