Medical malpractice caps are legal limits set by state laws that restrict the maximum amount of money that can be awarded to victims in medical malpractice lawsuits, particularly for non-economic damages like pain and suffering. These caps vary significantly from state to state - some states have no caps at all, while others limit non-economic damages to amounts like $250,000 or $500,000, regardless of how severe the patient's injuries are or how badly the doctor's negligence affected their life. The caps typically don't apply to economic damages like medical bills and lost wages, but they can dramatically reduce the total compensation available to malpractice victims.
These caps are highly controversial because they can prevent seriously injured patients from receiving full compensation for their suffering, especially in cases involving catastrophic injuries or permanent disabilities where the pain and loss of life quality may be enormous. For example, if a surgical error leaves someone paralyzed for life, their pain and suffering damages might be limited to the state's cap amount even though their actual suffering will last decades. Supporters argue that caps help control healthcare costs and keep malpractice insurance affordable for doctors, while critics contend that caps unfairly protect negligent healthcare providers at the expense of their victims and can make it difficult to find attorneys willing to take on complex malpractice cases with limited potential recovery.
