Larry Bodine, Editor in Chief of Lawyers.com discusses Medical Malpractice Damage Caps in Missouri, which have recently been declared unconstitutional. He tells us about Naythan Watts, who turns six this year. He has disabling brain injuries because of botched medical care at Cox Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri where he was born. His mother sued Cox and the jury awarded nearly $5 million for his injuries. But Missouri law required the non-economic damages amount to be cut to just $350,000. The Missouri Supreme overturned the damage caps in Naythan's case.
But what about the others who had their damages limited before the Missouri Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional? In all of my medical malpractice lawsuits, I included the language requesting the court to declare the caps unconstitutional. Of course, knowing the state of current law, I knew it was a long shot. But, as it turns out, that language was not superfluous. The Missouri Supreme Court did declare the caps unconstitutional. It just shows that if you have a medical malpractice claim, you should get a lawyer with experience, real experience, in that area of the law.
Here is the link to Larry Bodine's article.
Larry points out:
"Tort reform is a lie. It doesn't benefit the general public and results mainly in stripping Americans of their rights. The laws are pushed by well-funded, anti-consumer groups with friendly-sounding names like "ALEC" and the "U.S. Chamber of Commerce." Their goal is to boost insurance company profits, insulate incompetent doctors from liability and promote propaganda about a non-existent "lawsuit explosion." The result is that badly injured consumers pick up the high cost of medical mistakes in the name of cheaper malpractice insurance for doctors—who make the mistakes."
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