Late News: Tort reform advocates decry Ill. high court liability ruling

National and state advocates of medical liability reforms are expressing disappointment with an Illinois Supreme Court decision overturning damage caps and other medical malpractice reforms adopted in a 2005 law. “It is critical to preserve strong medical liability reforms among the states so no patient is prevented from getting needed healthcare because of the broken liability system,” American Medical Association President J. James Rohack said in a written statement. A year after Illinois enacted a law that capped noneconomic damages at $500,000 for doctors and $1 million for hospitals, a family filed a lawsuit alleging their child suffered brain damage during a Caesarean birth at 234-bed Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, Melrose Park, Ill. The lawsuit, targeting Gottlieb as well as the doctor and nurse who principally provided the care, became the test case for the constitutionality of the reforms. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the law violates separation of powers under the state constitution because it substitutes damage caps for a jury's deliberative process.

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