California healthcare, legal and consumer advocates have agreed on legislation increasing the cap on monetary awards for medical malpractice lawsuits, CalMatters reported April 27.
The agreement potentially averts a ballot measure that would have put the issue before voters in November, according to the report. The legislation, if passed, will raise the rap for a patient's noneconomic suffering, but at a more incremental rate than the proposed ballot measure.
If passed, starting in January, cases not involving a patient's death will have a new limit of $350,000, with an increase over the next 10 years to $750,000, according to the report. There will be a 2 percent annual adjustment for inflation after that.
Cases involving a death will have an increased limit of $500,000 that will increase to $1 million over 10 years, with a 2 percent annual increase after that.
The current cap is $250,000 and has been in effect since 1975, according to the report.