Missouri Senators passed a bill to reinstate juries to cap noneconomic damages for medical malpractice lawsuits.
Missouri senators approved a bill to reform lawsuit caps for damages in medical malpractice cases against healthcare providers, bringing stability to the state’s insurance market.
The bill creates a statutory cause of action for damages against healthcare providers, and proponents of the legislation say it could curb some lawsuits down the road. For providers in the state, this is good news.
Often a target for lawsuits, healthcare providers would not have to pay more than the approved limits in any action against them for noneconomic damages once the bill is signed into law. In most cases, damages will be capped at $400,000. For more serious injuries, including paralysis, loss of two or more limbs or other catastrophic personal injuries, the cap is increased to $700,000.
One of the biggest influencers of medical malpractice insurance for doctors in Missouri is the lack of a lawsuit cap against healthcare providers.
“When it comes to insurance, it’s a cost driver,” says Brad Jones, NFIB/Missouri state director. “This gets at the heart of healthcare costs. When you don’t have any ceilings, the market is unknown.”
Proponents of the bill say reinstating these caps will help keep more doctors in the state who may otherwise be driven away by higher medical malpractice insurance costs.
“This stabilizes their [insurance] rates, and now doctors can have a good idea of what their medical malpractice insurance costs will be,” says Jones.
In past years, legislators have attempted to establish medical malpractice lawsuit caps, though the state supreme court overthrew these caps in 2012, and the liability reform has been put on hold until now.
Left unchecked, higher insurance costs for doctors could eventually fall on the shoulders of consumers. However, the bigger problem lies in doctors seeking lower costs in other states with lawsuit caps for noneconomic damages.
“We went through a crisis in 2005, and doctors started leaving the state,” Jones says.
Those losses prompted lawmakers to try to reform the liability system the first time around in 2005. The bill was approved in the Senate on March 12, 2015, with a vote of 28-2. Economic damages such as lost wages and medical bills are not affected by the proposed cap.
