Personal Injury Law

Letter to the Editor Asks to consider the Victims of Medical Negligence

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

Recently two health care attorneys called for the Illinois Supreme Court to uphold legislation that placed caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. However, it is obvious that much of their argument consists of long-debunked myths and unsubstantiated claims. The attorneys claimed that doctors are fleeing Illinois due to the malpractice caps. However, the AMA?s own figures show the number of doctors in Illinois steadily increased over the last decade. The numbers also show that there are more doctors per capita in states without caps than those with them. Most importantly, the attorneys fail to speak to the heart of the lawsuit under contention. The victim was born with severe brain damage as the result of medical negligence. The attorneys writing the article forget that Abigaile is a real girl, with real problems. Medical malpractice cases cannot be simplified to a math equation that places an arbitrary value on human suffering. The laws regarding medical malpractice caps must be flexible enough to meet every victim?s needs. This article was published in the Law Bulletin.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on December 26, 2009 (boomark / email).