Medical Malpractice Law Struck Down in Illinois

The Illinois Supreme Court struck down the state's 2005 medical malpractice law, a win for trial lawyers nationally and a huge defeat for doctors, hospitals, and proponents of tort reform.

It's the third time Illinois' high court turned back efforts to limit pain-and-suffering awards, saying the caps are unconstitutional. The law caps noneconomic damages to no more than $1 million in a suit against a hospital and $500,000 for a doctor. Those caps violate a jury's right to determine such damages, the high court determined.

A Cook County judge ruled the caps unconstitutional in 2007 after hearing the case of Abigaile Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital. Lebron's family sued the hospital after the girl was born brain damaged.

"Courts, generally—unless there are extraordinary circumstances—stick to established precedents," says Chicago trial lawyer Michael Cogan, who wasn't involved in the Lebron case.

The precedent determining that malpractice reform violates the separation of powers between the legislature and the courts was established twice before by Illinois' high court, he notes.

In reality, lawyers and judges recognized that there was a good chance the law was going to be overturned after the 2007 Cook County court ruling, Cogan says. Therefore, payouts in some trials exceeded those state caps.

In fact, most of the verdicts in medical malpractices cases Cogan and his firm brought on behalf of plaintiffs exceeded the state caps, including a $4 million verdict in early 2009, he says.

Most of the payout in that suit to Eleanor Herron-Wilson of Chicago was for pain and suffering and loss of normal life experienced, two categories that were technically limited under the state's malpractice law. Herron-Wilson sued her plastic surgeon after a botched procedure on her face following a car accident.

Illinois doctors, hospitals, and business groups pushed hard for the caps in 2005, saying that doctors were leaving the state because of lawsuits and the high cost of malpractice insurance. Other states have taken more drastic action. Texas, for instance, changed its state constitution to allow caps on damages.

Republicans in Congress have pushed for medical malpractice as part of national health care reform.