Illinois Supreme Court Strikes Down Medical Malpractice Caps
On February 4, the Illinois Supreme Court once again ruled in favor of the victims of medical negligence, eliminating caps on damages for pain and suffering in medical malpractice lawsuits. At a time when lawmakers across the country are clamoring for so-called tort reform and many states are setting harsh restrictions on patient rights, this comes as a welcome decision.
In Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, the Court struck down the 2005 Illinois medical malpractice law, which limited the non-economic damages available to the victims of medical malpractice. Under the law, injured patients could only recover a maximum of $500,000 from physicians and $1,000,000 from hospitals in non-economic damages.
The Court held that the law impermissibly restricted decisions that should be reserved for judges and juries, and therefore violated the separation powers clause in the state Constitution. This is the third time the Illinois Supreme Court has found medical malpractice caps unconstitutional.
The case at issue involved a young girl affected with several permanent injuries including "severe brain injury, cerebral palsy and cognitive mental impairment." These ailments were a direct result of mistakes made during the girl's delivery by way of Caesarean section in a Cook County hospital.
In many birth injury cases, most of the monetary recovery comes in the form of non-economic damages. Since a young child suffers no loss of income, young victims in states with medical caps are usually only able to recover tangible medical costs. Damages for pain and suffering, which have no set value, are severely limited by caps — despite the fact that a child who is seriously injured at birth may face a lifetime of impairments.
The court noted that although it may be difficult to assess the true value of non-economic damages, this alone is not a sufficient reason to place arbitrary caps on these damages.
Given the highly politicized fight over medical malpractice caps, it seems unlikely that this is the last time this issue will appear in Illinois. Supporters of damage caps will continue to argue that these caps are necessary to keep health care costs from soaring and to prevent doctors from leaving the state to practice elsewhere. Opponents will continue to argue that medical malpractice awards have very limited effects on overall health care costs, and that Illinois has not actually experienced any shortage of doctors.
Regardless of how these arguments may play out in the future, though, for today, the rights of people who have been injured as the result of medical negligence have been restored in Illinois.
