The Kipness Law Firm, P.C

The Chicago Tribune reported that the Illinois Supreme Court overturned a medical malpractice law on the grounds the law, which placed limits on damages awarded to patients, was unconsitutional.

Hospitals and doctors say caps on damages for medical malpractice is necessary to reduce rising health care costs.   The law was passed on 2005 and its purpose was to limit compensation to patients for pain and suffering and other non-economic damages such as mental anguish, impairment, and disfigurement.  The caps limited these types of damages to $500,000 in cases against doctors and $1,000,000 in cases against hospitals.

Doctors have complained their medical malpractice premiums will increase because of this ruling.  They argue an increase in premiums will cause Illinois doctors to leave Illinois and practice medicine in other states.  Opponents have stated there is no evidence that rising malpractice premiums have caused doctors to retire or leave the state.

The Illinois Supreme Court stated the seperation of powers (between the branches of government) clause was violated because the law allowed the state legislature to interfere with a jury’s right to determine damages in a medical malpractice case. 

The underlying case made the basis of this appeal involved a 4 year old girl who suffered a brain injury during her birth. 

There are disputes on whether damage cap laws actually reduce the costs of health care.  The U.S. Congressional Budget office has stated caps on non-economic damages could only lower the cost of healthcare by 0.5 percent.

A professor from Penn Law School has written a book titled “The Medical Malpractice Myth.”  Professor Tom Baker is of the opinion that lawyers are less likely to take cases from lower-earning people because the potential recovery is smaller when non-economic damages are limited.  

Texas also has caps on a non-economic damages in medical malpractice and nursing home abuse cases.  The caps are limited to $250,000 for cases against doctors and $500,000 for cases involving two or more hospitals.

We hope the right attorney with the right case will challenge the Texas cap on non-economic damages.  We believe the Illinois Supreme Court reason is logical and makes sense.  Jury awards should not be disturbed by legislatures.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that medication errors result in at least one death per day and cause personal injuries to 1.3 million Americans per year.  

Nurses can misunderstand abbreviations on a pharmacy order.  Examples of deaths from medication errors are: (1) accidental overdose of a drug that slows the heart rate; (2) i.v. fluids administered at too high of a level after surgery on a child; and (3) confusion over drug names that leads to addition of insulin to infant’s i.v. instead of the correct medication such as an anti-clotting drug.

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists launched the National Alert Network for Serious Medication Errors.  This network will send e-mail alerts to pharmacists, doctors, and nurses when a life-threatening or death causing medication error is reported.  The goal is to spread the word about the consequences of medication errors.

Medication errors have increased because of pressure for hospitals to cut costs via stretching of their staff in these tough economic times.  A survey of 850 nurses and pharmacists revealed 20% of them reported making a medication mistakes with insulin, narcotics, heparin, and chemotherapy.

Consumers can sign up for customized alerts about medications they take and report problems to http://www.consumermedsafety.org.     To avoid medication errors, consumers should ask healthcare providers to explain what medications are being given and what are the correct dosages. 

Some patient safety experts say this network is not enough and there needs to be other techniques implemented such as electronic medical records (elminates bad doctor handwriting) and bar coding systems (confirms drugs match with patient’s age, condition, or diagnosis). 

The reporting of medication errors by health care providers is confidential and cannot be used in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Hopefully, this network will decreased the amount of indviduals who are victims of medical malpractice due to medication errors committed by their healthcare providers or pharmacists.