Letters to the Editor: If the malpractice cap stays stuck in 1975, so should doctors’ pay

To the editor: Recently you published a column and letters to the editor regarding the $250,000 cap on medical malpractice “pain and suffering” lawsuit payouts. This limit was signed into law in 1975, one year before my son was born. It was not pegged to inflation.

For my family this is personal. My now-43-year-old son was severely injured because of a lack of basic good care at a California hospital. While nothing will make him fully whole again, the inflation-adjusted sum, had it been part of the original law, would have been about $1.2 million. This would have contributed to his future well-being.

An initiative will be on this year’s ballot to correct this deficiency. Should it fail at the ballot box, there should be a related proposition that rolls back all salaries and prices in the medical field to 1975 levels.

Steve Saeta, Santa Rosa Valley, Calif.