On Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court issued a ruling overturning medical malpractice damage caps in wrongful death cases, giving grieving families some hope for justice. Ever since Governor Jeb Bush pushed through caps on pain and suffering damages on medical malpractice cases, people suing doctors and hospitals were limited in what they could recover for their pain, suffering and mental anguish from the loss of their loved one due to medical or hospital negligence. No more. The court said that the “malpractice insurance crisis” wasn’t really a crisis, and caps weren’t necessary.
Now, doctors with low malpractice coverage and hospitals (and their insurance companies) are at risk of having to actually compensate relatives of their victims.