The latest legislative attempt to correct last year’s Wisconsin Supreme Court rule invalidating non-economic damage caps and making other impacts on the state’s medical malpractice law, (AB 1071, 1072, 1073, and 1074), all passed the Assembly, the American Insurance Association reported this week.
The key bill, AB 1073, would establish a $750,000 cap on non-economic damages. Gov. Doyle has not officially announced his support for the bill, but stated he will support a cap that he thinks will pass a constitutional test, according to the AIA.
With a 74-22 vote, the Assembly approved a new cap of $750,000 for pain and suffering and loss of companionship in medical malpractice cases. That margin is well above the two-thirds majority necessary to override a gubernatorial veto, making it more difficult for Gov. Jim Doyle to veto this limit as he did caps passed by the Legislature last year.
GOP lawmakers, insurers and many in the medical community have been working to put new caps in place after a July state Supreme Court ruling that struck down the previous caps. The court said those limits were unconstitutional. They were set at $350,000 in 1995 but rose to $445,775 by 2005 when indexed for inflation.
The medical malpractice bill now heads to the Senate.
Source: American Insurance Association, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Topics Legislation Wisconsin
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