Federal Malpractice Award Cap Legislation

Christina Cole

Contributor

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The Medical Care Access Protection (MCAP) Act of 2007 has been recently been introduced. The Act would set a cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits.

"Medical liability reform works, and it's turning the tide against frivolous lawsuits and outrageous jury awards," said Ensign, who is a veterinarian. "We've seen it in California, in Texas and in my home state of Nevada, where the number of medical malpractice lawsuits has decreased drastically. It's been a crisis driving doctors out of business for too long. It's time to protect patients across the country and ensure access to quality health care."

The MCAP Act would allow for setting caps on non-economic damages while at the same time allowing unlimited economic damages. Under the bill, a patient would be able to recover up to $250,000 from a healthcare provider and up to two healthcare institutions each for a total of $750,000.

Therefore there would be no limits on economic damages that could possibly be incurred over the duration of ones' lifetime such as the loss of employment and future earnings.

Additionally the bill would place limits on lawyer fees and includes an expert witness provision to ensure relevant medical experts would serve as trial witnesses instead of "professional witnesses."

"So long as there are women in this country who fear giving birth in their cars before they make it to a hospital because their local obstetrician couldn't afford liability insurance, we have a crisis," said Ensign. "Obstetrics is just one area in which doctors have been driven out by ridiculous medical liability costs. We must take control of this system and put the priority on the patients and their access to health care."

This legislation is modeled after medical liability reform enacted in Texas in 2003.