Medical Malpractice Caps Disadvantage Minorities, Women, and the Poor

The practical effect of caps on damages in civil medical malpractice suits is that a doctor may kill a baby with infinite potential through acts of negligence and then our legislature has predetermined that every baby’s life is worth only $250,000 in Texas.

Think of the jury that returned this $10+ million verdict. How can they not feel disillusioned to learn that decision means nothing as a result of the ego-driven crystal-ball bearing enforcers of damage caps? A jury of our peers has become an elitist system designed to protect certain powerful interests at the expense of the weakest in society.

“Caps have a tremendous, harmful impact on those with limited incomes, who would not be able to show significant economic damages. Caps would hurt minorities, who receive poor quality healthcare across the board. The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported that healthcare for Hispanics and African Americans in New York is lower than in the nation as a whole. Another study by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies found “U.S. racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to receive even routine medical procedures and experience a lower quality of health services.”

Caps also hurt women as a group.

“ The practical effect of caps on non-economic damages is that the most vulnerable folks in our society are adversely impacted the most. The elderly, the poor, and women bear the brunt of the costs imposed by tort reform. It’s unreasonable to expect any group, including physicians, to be perfect. But as a society who we choose to carry the burdens matters a great deal on a basic moral level.” — Michael Moreland, attorney.