Medical Malpractice Reform

Medical Malpractice Reform


POSTED IN: Policy Statements,

In 2005, MOCEP was part of a coalition that passed a bill lowering caps from $650,000 to $350,000, along with other tort reform measures. Unfortunately, the Missouri State Supreme Court, in the Watts decision, eliminated the non economic medical malpractice caps entirely (except for wrongful death cases – cap remains since it was not part of the suit). After the Watts decision Missouri had NO cap on non economic damages. After the caps were overturned, MOCEP went back to work. We formed a coalition with other providers, and while it took time, we were able to get legislation passed that re-instituted caps. There is now a dual system of caps: one for wrongful death and catastrophic injuries and one for everything else. Keep in mind this is only for non-economic damages. We believe this serves to protect physicians but also compensates patients for substandard care if they incurred a bad outcome related to the substandard care.