Medical Malpractice Damages Caps State-By-State

Medical malpractice lawsuits let patients hold doctors and other health care providers responsible for harm caused by sub-standard medical treatment. But some states have passed laws limiting the amount of money that can be awarded in a successful medical malpractice lawsuit. In this article, we'll explain how these compensation "caps" work, and we'll provide state-by-state details on these laws.

What Are Medical Malpractice "Damages"?

In a typical medical malpractice lawsuit, a number of different categories of compensation are available if the plaintiff is successful in establishing the doctor's liability for harm, and "damages" is just a legal term that describes this kind of compensation for injuries.

Most damages fall into one of two categories: economic or non-economic. Specific types of damages in these categories in a typical medical malpractice case include:

• cost of past medical care made necessary by the malpractice (economic damages)
• expected cost of future medical care, rehabilitation, and other expenses resulting from the malpractice (economic damages)
• reimbursement for the injured patient's lost income (economic damages)
• compensation for the patient's lost earning potential or inability to make a living caused by the malpractice (economic damages)
• the patient's mental and physical "pain and suffering" caused by the malpractice, including the impact of scarring or disfigurement (non-economic damages), and
• the patient's inability to participate in hobbies and interest, their lost enjoyment of life, and related negative effects of the malpractice (non-economic damages).

A separate category of compensation, punitive damages, is usually reserved for medical malpractice cases involving egregious or outrageous conduct.

Learn more about damages in a medical malpractice case.

Tort Reform and Medical Malpractice Damages Caps

"Tort reform" is a lawmaking movement meant to curb how much money an injured person can receive from the legal system. A few of the movement's goals are to keep liability insurance costs down and to discourage the filing of meritless or "frivolous" lawsuits. As part of these efforts, a number of states have passed laws limiting the amount of damages that are recoverable in a successful medical malpractice lawsuit.

Most of these damage caps only apply to compensation for "non-economic" losses, which as the bulleted list above indicates, includes the patient's pain and suffering, lost enjoyment, and other negative effects of the malpractice.

Remember that in states that only cap non-economic damages in a medical malpractice case, there's no limit on how much the injured patient can be rewarded for their economic losses, like the cost of past and future medical care made necessary by the health care provider's mistake.

Only a handful of states have an overall cap on medical malpractice damages, which applies to both economic and non-economic losses.

Do Medical Malpractice Damages Caps Apply to Settlements?

Not technically, no. These laws only limit how much a successful medical malpractice plaintiff can receive in court. But from a practical standpoint, these caps will effectively limit how much you can reasonably expect to receive in the way of an out-of-court medical malpractice settlement too. That's because medical malpractice insurance companies and defendants negotiate an injury settlement with an eye toward what might happen if the case goes all the way to trial.

So, let's say your state has a $500,000 cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice court awards. Any settlement offer you receive is going to reflect that limit. Since the other side doesn't need to worry about a jury awarding you millions of dollars for your "pain and suffering," they're probably not going to offer you more than $100,000 as settlement for the non-economic side of your losses.

Is There a Medical Malpractice Damages Cap In My State?

In the chart below, you'll find the latest state-specific information on laws capping medical malpractice damages. Click on your state's link for more details about the award limits, as well as the medical malpractice statute of limitations and other laws likely to affect your case.