Newsom signs compromise law raising the limit on medical malpractice damages [View all]
San Francisco Chronicle / May 23, 2022
California's $250,000 limit on damages for pain and suffering caused by medical malpractice, a ceiling enacted by lawmakers in 1975 at the insistence of doctors and insurers, will be lifted next year.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed compromise legislation Monday, sponsored by consumer advocates and supported by medical groups, that will not remove all limits on malpractice damages but will raise them to account for some of the inflation in the past 47 years.
Under AB35 by Assembly Majority Leader Eloise Gómez Reyes, D-Colton (San Bernardino County), the new limits for noneconomic damages in 2023 will be $350,000 for nonfatal medical malpractice by a physician and $500,000 for malpractice causing death. The maximum will rise gradually over the next decade, to $750,000 for non-death cases and $1 million for fatal cases, and increase by 2% a year thereafter for inflation.
When a doctor and other medical institutions, such as hospitals, commit acts of malpractice on the same victim, the limits will rise to as much as $1.05 million next year and $2.25 million in 10 years in non-death cases, with higher caps for fatal cases.
LINK (paywall): https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Newsom-signs-compromise-law-raising-the-limit-on-17193118.php
Overdue, though you know cost of practitioner and hospital insurance will increase, and be passed on to us.
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