Malpractice cap is struck down in Louisiana
A state appeals court in Louisiana ruled that because the $500,000 cap Louisiana put on medical malpractice damage awards in 1975 is worth far less in today's dollars, it violates the state constitution by robbing the worst-hurt patients of their right to an adequate legal remedy for their injuries.
Five judges of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal split 3-2 on a pair of cases that challenged the $500,000 limit, which applies to all malpractice awards except those for future medical care. Medical malpractice plaintiff lawyers hailed the ruling, which doubtless will be reviewed next by the state Supreme Court.
The Legislature enacted the $500,000 cap to control what it said were rising health care costs and to ensure that affordable malpractice insurance was available to physicians. The $500,000 limit is part of a law that says a state board must review medical malpractice claims before lawsuits based on the claims can be brought to court.
The law set up a system that makes doctors participating in a Patient Compensation Fund responsible for paying the first $100,000 of a malpractice judgment, after which the fund covers the other $400,000. The 3rd Circuit ruling on the controversial cap, written by Judge Elizabeth Pickett and concurred with by fellow Judges Billy Ezell and James Genovese, branded it constitutionally flawed.
They also ordered that adequate compensation in each of the two cases be decided by trial courts that earlier rejected the plaintiffs' calls to declare the $500,000 cap unconstitutional.
Judge Sylvia Cook's dissent, joined in by Judge Oswald DeCuir, said the cases should be sent back to the lower courts for new hearings. "
The $500,000 limit prevents people who juries have decided are malpractice victims from collecting anything over that amount, even if juries say they should get more.
The idea was to reduce malpractice insurance premiums, and all it did was reduce what the person could recover but didn't really protect the doctors.
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