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California Law Means Less for Lawyers.
California's medical malpractice law, cited as a
model by President Bush, has reduced awards in malpractice trials by an
average 30 percent, according to a recent study.
While the landmark law capped attorney fees as well as jury awards, the
net recovery by injured patients and their families fell only 15 percent,
the study said.
On the other hand, payments to plaintiffs' lawyers
dropped by 60 percent.
The study by the Rand Corp., a Santa Monica, Calif., think tank, looked
only at how California's 1975 law affected payments in cases that went to
trial. It did not look at whether the lower awards reduced malpractice
insurance premiums for doctors or medical bills for consumers. Proponents
argue that curbing medical malpractice lawsuits would have those results.
California's Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act capped recoveries for
non-economic damages like pain and suffering at $250,000. A jury can award
more than that, but after the verdict the judge limits the award. The law
also capped attorney fees on a sliding scale. The highest percentage that
an attorney can recover is 40 percent of the first $50,000 of any award.
The study examined 257 plaintiff verdicts in California medical
malpractice trials from 1995 to 1999. Among its other findings:
-Fifty-eight percent of cases involving the death of a patient resulted in
jury awards that had to be capped, compared with 41 percent of cases
involving injuries. The median award reduction for cases involving death
was 49 percent, compared with 28 percent for injury cases. The combined
average reduction was 30 percent.
-Injury cases in which jury awards were reduced by $2.5 million or more
usually involved newborns and young children with very critical injuries.
Source: FindLaw.com, AP, "Study: Calif. Malpractice Awards Are Less,"
July 7, 2004.
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