There were 57 medical malpractice verdicts of $10 million or more, with more than half of those verdicts hitting $25 million — and the legislation surrounding malpractice lawsuits and physician liability could be changing in a number of states.
Here are three states with malpractice legislation in the 2024 legislative session:
1. Colorado: Legislators passed a bipartisan bill seen as a compromise after an initial bill — backed by the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association and personal-injury attorneys — would have eliminated caps on non-economic damages in catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases, and opened healthcare peer review to evidentiary discovery.
- The current bill settled on a cap increase from $300,000 to $875,000, phased over in five years. Beginning in 2030, the cap will be adjusted for inflation every two years.
- A new noneconomic damages cap for wrongful death cases will increase over five years to just above $1.5 million. This new cap will also be adjusted every two years for inflation.
- The total "soft" cap on both economic and noneconomic damages was adjusted to be the greater of $1 million, or 125% of the noneconomic damages awarded in medical malpractice cases.
- There is limited retroactivity for non-wrongful death medical negligence claims arising after Jan. 1, 2024.
- The bill expands the pool of plaintiffs who can bring a wrongful death claim. The decedent's siblings or their heirs may file a wrongful death action if the decedent has no other living heirs and beneficiaries.
2. New Hampshire: A bill initially sought to eliminate a $150,000 cap on loss-of-comfort and companionship damages awarded to the surviving spouse in wrongful death cases, as well as a $50,000 cap on loss-of-familial-relationship damages that could be awarded to the minor children of a deceased parent.
- After some opposition, the bill was amended to increase the cap on loss-of-comfort and companionship damages to $500,000 and the increase familial relationship damages cap to $300,000.
- The bill becomes effective Jan. 1, 2025.
3. New York: The Grieving Families Act increases physician liability in wrongful death suits, and expands the pool of beneficiaries and categories of recoverable damages in wrongful death claims.
- The initial bill was added to the proposed state budget earlier this year and then removed after advocacy from physician groups.
- A new version of the bill has now passed both houses of the state legislature and awaits approval from Gov. Kathy Hocul. Physician advocacy groups continue to urge the governor to veto the bill.