December 17, 2009 | Business/Law

Ill. Supreme Court Delays Ruling on Medical Malpractice Award Cap

The Illinois Supreme Court has delayed releasing its much-anticipated ruling on the legality of the state’s four-year-old cap on medical malpractice awards.

A ruling from the state’s high court was expected this week, but now is not likely to be issued until the next round of judicial rulings is handed down in mid-January 2010, officials said.

The court is set to rule on the 2005 limits the state’s General Assembly adopted for the amount which can be awarded to victims of medical malpractice. The move came as many doctors fled Illinois to avoid increasing insurance premiums.

The state’s cap limits what injured patients can collect for non-economic damages such as pain and suffering to $500,000 against doctors and $1 million against hospitals. A Cook County judge ruled in 2007 that the caps interfered with juries’ power to award appropriate damage awards for medical errors, according to the Associated Press. The state’s Supreme Court then agreed to settle the matter.

Illinois lawmakers have adopted caps on jury awards twice before in the state’s history, and both times, the state’s Supreme Court eventually invalidated them, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.

AUTHOR: tgrenda