When you’re injured due to a defective or unsafe product in Georgia, the amount of damages you can receive for non-economic injuries isn’t capped. However, if you’re injured due to medical malpractice, the amount you can receive IS capped at $350,000 – something that a Georgia judge recently said was unconstitutional.

Ruling could change the future of damages for consumers

A Fulton County Georgia judge recently ruled that Georgia’s non-economic damages (pain & suffering) cap of $350,000 for medical malpractice injuries was unconstitutional could change the way that damages are awarded in the state of Georgia – and possibly other areas of the country as well.

The underlying case

In the underlying case, a 60 year old man was taken to the hospital after he fell from a ladder at his Georgia home. While he was being treated, doctors allegedly misdiagnosed his condition and he is now a quadriplegic. He and his wife sued the hospital for medical malpractice and argued that Georgia’s cap on non-economic damages was unconstitutional. The judge agreed and the issue may now be heard by appellate courts to determine whether such caps are constitutional.

Legal experts and consumer advocate groups argue that caps are unconstitutional and point to the fact that had the man’s injuries been the result of a defective ladder, such caps would not apply. This leads to the question…

Are damage caps necessary?

The issue of damage caps has been controversial for many years and states differ on capped amounts. Medical association advocates claim that caps are needed to keep down medical malpractice insurance rates which eventually get passed onto patients in the form of higher bills, but many states haven’t changed their caps in years – leaving consumer advocate groups to doubt the necessity of caps altogether.

For example, California hasn’t changed their caps since 1975 when the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) was passed limiting non-economic damages to $250,000. MICRA was passed because insurance companies were increasing medical malpractice premiums. However, even after MICRA’s passage, medical malpractice rates continued to rise – some say by over 400%.

It wasn’t until 13 years later when California’s Proposition 103 required insurance companies to lower their rates that medical malpractice insurance fell to normal levels – seemingly negating the belief that malpractice insurance rates required damage caps to keep the balance in check. Only time will tell whether non-economic damage caps will change in Georgia and other states. However, many believe that the legal system – not the legislature – should decide what’s fair.