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Caps on Medical Malpractice Damages Unconstitutional,
Wisconsin Supreme Court
Court says caps bear no "rational" relationship to lower
premiums
(Thursday, July 14, 2005)—Today the Wisconsin Supreme
Court struck down the state's caps on non-economic
(so-called pain and suffering) damages in medical malpractice
cases, saying they bear no "rational" relationship to lower
malpractice insurance premiums. The Court also called such limits
"unreasonable and arbitrary" because they negatively impact
the most severely injured patients. Wisconsin is the 14th state to
strike down caps as unconstitutional.
In its ruling, the Wisconsin court noted that the state insurance
commissioner concluded "no direct correlation can be drawn between
the caps enacted in 1995 and current rate changes taking place in
the primary market today."
The medical malpractice
bill Congress is preparing to debate would enact just such an
"unreasonable and arbitrary" cap nationwide, while doing
nothing to force the insurance industry to lower malpractice premiums
for doctors.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling comes just days after the release
of a new study conducted by the former insurance commissioner of Missouri,
Falling
Claims and Rising Premiums in the Medical Malpractice Insurance Industry,
which showed that in the past five years, while doctors' insurance
premiums have more than doubled, malpractice claims payments have
remained stable or even decreased in some cases.
"This is the smoking gun that proves the insurance industry
has been misleading doctors and health care consumers," said
ATLA President Todd A. Smith. "Insurance companies have been
price-gouging doctors and now we know the reason—to protect their
bottom line."
Smith said that frivolous lawsuits should receive nothing, but juries
should be allowed to decide what is appropriate compensation for severely
injured victims of medical malpractice.
# # #
As the world's largest trial bar, ATLA
promotes justice and fairness for injured persons, defends the constitutional
right to trial by jury, and strengthens the civil justice system through
education and disclosure of information critical to public health
and safety. With 60,000 members worldwide, ATLA provides lawyers with
the information and professional assistance they need to serve clients
successfully and protect the democratic values of the civil justice
system.
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