California to increase awards in medical malpractice cases

(KYMA, KECY/ AP NEWS) - People who get hurt because of a doctor’s negligence in California could soon get a lot more money in malpractice lawsuits under an agreement reached Wednesday.

If approved by the state legislature — it would avoid a costly fight at the ballot box this November while resolving one of the state’s longest-running political battles.

California does not limit how much money patients can win in malpractice cases for economic damages, which include things that can be counted such as medical expenses and lost wages. But since 1975, state law has limited how much money patients can win for things that can’t be counted — such as pain and suffering — to $250,000.

Trial attorneys and patients’ rights groups have tried and failed for decades to raise that limit, noting it sometimes costs more than that to take one of these complex lawsuits to trial.

But, supporters of raising the limit agreed to withdraw the measure from the November ballot.

Instead, they supported a new bill in the state legislature that would gradually increase the limit over the next 10 years.

The agreement would raise the limit to $350,000 for people who were injured and $500,000 for the families of people who die, beginning next year.