Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Bill Would Weaken 2004 Medical Liability Reforms
Maryland Chamber Vice President of Government Affairs Ron Wineholt will submit testimony today to the House Judiciary Committee in opposition to legislation to increase the cap on noneconomic damages in certain malpractice claims.
During the 2004 special session, the General Assembly wisely reduced the cap on noneconomic damages for cases involving a survival action and a wrongful death action from a “double cap” to a limit of 125 percent of the individual limit.
At $665,000, Maryland’s noneconomic damage award cap is already one of the highest in the country. Further escalation of this cap would simply increase noneconomic damage awards and fuel additional increases to high medical liability insurance rates that are threatening access to certain medical specialties.
“The Maryland Chamber believes that the General Assembly’s efforts during the 2004 special session were a stop-gap measure that should be further refined, not rolled back,” Wineholt said. “Additional meaningful reforms to the calculation of medical liability damages are necessary if we are to reduce the cost of liability insurance.”
For more information, contact Ron Wineholt at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
