Expert Witness Blog
National Medical Consultants represents a panel of over 1900 distinguished specialists in all areas of medicine including neonatology expert witnesses. In Medical malpractice liability reform-no easy task experts at National Medical Consultants write:
CURRENT MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWS
This article explores some of the reform strategies that state governments have adopted, including the elements of the medical malpractice system the state legislatures intended to change. It also provides a brief discussion regarding the states in which medical malpractice reform initiatives are anticipated to continue during the 2006 state legislative session. Overall, this article explores the extreme complexity and political polarization that state legislators face in attempting to successfully achieve medical malpractice liability reform.Damage caps. One of the common approaches to medical malpractice reform adopted by states is to implement damage caps. Damage caps limit the amount of money a patient can receive as compensation for injury(ies) suffered as a result of an alleged negligent medical act. Approximately 32 states have laws that cap specific types of compensatory damage awards in medical malpractice cases. (3) Many of these laws restrict the amount of money that a patient can receive for noneconomic damages or what is often referred to as “pain and suffering.”