Nixon signs bill reinstating medical malpractice caps

Gov. Jay Nixon yesterday signed a bill into law reinstating caps on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases that were removed by a 2012 Missouri Supreme Court decision.

In approving Senate Bill 239, state law now calls for a $400,000 cap on personal injury cases and $700,000 cap on noneconomic damages for catastrophic personal injury or wrongful death lawsuits. The limits are scheduled to increase 1.3 percent annually, according to a news release.

“This bipartisan legislation protects patients by making sure that significant financial restitution can be sought in cases of medical malpractice, while also helping to attract and retain health care providers in our state,” Nixon said in the release of the bill sponsored by Sen. Dan Brown, R-Rolla, and Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Springfield.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry applauded the bill’s passage.

Dan Mehan, chamber president and CEO, said the legislation heightens Missouri’s desirability to employers.

“For any enterprise, cost of doing business is a major factor in deciding where to locate. Missouri’s uncapped malpractice litigation system has led to rising insurance costs for our physicians, harming Missouri’s ability to offer a competitive environment to attract medical clinicians,” he said in a separate news release. “I’d like to thank our elected leaders for finding a compromise and finally resolving this problem.”

The General Assembly in 2005 sought to lower caps on jury awards for pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases, and in 2012, the state Supreme Court struck down the legislation, removing the caps, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.