The Florida Supreme Court, in a widely anticipated decision, has declared Florida’s caps on wrongful death damages in medical malpractice cases unconstitutional. In so doing, it found the limit on recovery to be a violation of the equal protection under the law granted every citizen. The Court said, in part;
“Health care policy that relies upon discrimination against Florida families is not rational or reasonable when it attempts to utilize aggregate caps to create unreasonable classifications. Accordingly, and for each of these reasons, the cap on wrongful death noneconomic damages in medical malpractice actions does not pass constitutional muster.“
The decision can be found here:
http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2014/sc11-1148.pdf
Undoubtedly, in the days to come, certain special interest will be screaming that this will increase the cost of health care in Florida. How giving wrongdoers immunity for bad acts saves money will always perplex the citizens of this state, these wrongdoers increase costs for not only medicine, but insurance as well.
But then again, when is the last time you were told the truth about health insurance?
Stay tuned, more to come in the days ahead.