“Today’s court decision threatens to undo all that Illinois patients and physicians have gained under the cap, including greater access to health care, lower medical liability rates and increased competition among medical liability insurers,” said J. James Rohack, MD, president of the AMA, in a written statement following the ruling.
The Supreme Court upheld part of a lower court’s 2007 ruling that the state’s medical malpractice law violated the separation of powers clause in the Illinois Constitution by allowing lawmakers to interfere with a judge’s ability to reduce verdicts, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.
The case, LeBron, a Minor v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, involved a malpractice lawsuit filed in 2006 against the hospital by the family of a girl who suffered severe brain damage and other injuries during her delivery there.
The state’s hospital association also spoke out strongly against the ruling, which has been followed closely by the healthcare industry and could play into the national healthcare reform debate this year, according to the Tribune report.
“The hospital community is deeply concerned that this decision will renew the malpractice lawsuit crisis and make it more difficult for Illinoisans to access or afford health care as liability costs for physicians and hospitals are driven to unsustainable levels,” said Illinois Hospital Association President Maryjane A. Wurth, in a written statement.
Read the Illinois Supreme Court’s medical malpractice cap ruling (pdf).
Read the Chicago Tribune’s report on Illinois medical malpractice caps.
