Profession
Oregon keeps wrongful death damage cap
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted April 7, 2008
Oregon physicians say that a state Supreme Court decision upholding the noneconomic damage cap in wrongful death cases will help to preserve some stability in the state's medical liability climate.
The high court on Feb. 22 ruled that the $500,000 award limit in wrongful death actions does not violate plaintiffs' right to a jury trial or access to a legal remedy.
Physicians had feared that a spike in such case filings and higher medical liability premiums would have ensued if the court had rejected the cap.
The Oregon Medical Assn. and the American Medical Association/State Medical Societies Litigation Center filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, urging the Supreme Court to keep the damage cap. Justices in 1999 struck down the state's pain-and-suffering award limit in personal-injury cases as unconstitutional.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/04/07/prbf0407.htm.
