The Iowa Legislature is currently reviewing a bill that would place a cap on how much state residents can be awarded for non-economic medical malpractice damages, according to a Jan. 31 report from Siouxland Proud.
The bill would prevent Iowans suffering from mental, physical or emotional pain due to malpractice from winning more than $1 million in a lawsuit against healthcare providers.
Under this bill, the only exception to the $1 million cap would be if a jury finds a physician acted out of malice in a malpractice suit.
Stephen Avery, an Iowa attorney, told Siouxland Proud that he believes Iowa residents will be less likely to file malpractice suits if this bill passes.
"It might impact the very serious cases for reason that the expense of pursuing a medical malpractice case is large and depending on the nature of the bill that is passed, it could discourage pursuit of appropriate recovery," Mr. Avery told Siouxland Proud.
The bill passed out of a judiciary committee and is waiting to reach the Senate floor.