Tort Reform And Damage Caps On Medical Malpractice Claims

The field of tort law involves lawsuits to recover money from someone who negligently or intentionally caused someone else to get hurt. This includes numerous kinds of lawsuits, including personal injury suits like those for car accidents, medical malpractice claims, and even injuries stemming from defective products. However, tort law has been going through radical changes in recent years, and this has been making it more difficult for injured people to get what they deserve.

Tort Law and Tort Reform

The whole idea behind tort law is that someone who gets hurt should not have to pay the cost of their medical bills, and should be compensated for the pain, suffering, and difficulties that they have gone through, and are about to go through. The purpose of tort law is to make someone who has been hurt whole again.

Unfortunately, many lawmakers throughout the U.S. have lost sight of what tort law is all about. Our recent blog focused on presidential-hopeful Ted Cruz, and his record of changing tort law. However, Mr. Cruz is only one of the many legislators working on the state or federal level to reform tort law and make it more difficult for people to get the compensation they deserve, and the help that they need to return to the life they had before their injury. Tort reform has been around for awhile, and it is squeezing injured parties, especially when it comes to medical malpractice claims.

How Tort Reform Makes It Harder for Injured Parties to Get Compensated

Changes to tort law have come in numerous different shapes and sizes. Some of these include an outright bar to bringing a claim, as is the case when states prohibit parents from bringing wrongful death claims on behalf of adult children. Others are extra procedures that need to be taken, in order for a medical malpractice claim to even get filed in court, like the requirement that a medical professional sign off on the claim before it is made, agreeing that it likely amounted to malpractice.

Damage Caps

One of the most common changes to tort law made on the state level has been limitations on the amount of money that can be won in a particular type of lawsuit. For example, in Maryland, there is a law that puts a limit on the amount of money that can be awarded for “non-economic” damages in a claim for medical malpractice. This means that, no matter how horrific your injury or how egregious the malpractice was, you will only be able to recover up to the limitation for your pain and suffering, your emotional distress, scarring, or for the loss of a loved one due to medical malpractice. Unfortunately, this limitation is arbitrary, and can lead to unfair results in certain circumstances.

Maryland Medical Malpractice Attorneys Fight For Your Case

The medical malpractice attorneys at Gilman & Bedigian understand how tort law and medical malpractice claims are changing, and can guide you through the process to get the compensation that you or a loved one deserves. Call our law office at (800) 529-6162 or contact us online.