North Carolina Med Mal Cap
Side Note: North Carolina will join the growing list of states that have caps on non-economic damages this October and we here at MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com are thrilled. (As a refresher, non-economic damages cover things like pain and suffering and emotional distress.) The cap is set at $500,000. However, the cap will not remain in place if two conditions are met in a medical malpractice case. They are if “a person is disfigured, loses the use of a body part or sustains permanent damage or death and the defendant’s actions were in reckless disregard of another or grossly negligent.”
In the long-term, the article theorizes (and we agree) that lawyers will be less likely to file the same number of cases that they have in the past, and will instead file fewer cases. In the short term, the article also suggests that there will be a flurry of med mal cases filed just under the October deadline, which commonly happens when caps are about to be put in place.
The new law did not pass without its share of drama. It was originally passed, then vetoed by the Gov. Perdue, and then the veto was overridden by lawmakers. And, others still contend that it may be challenged as unconstitutional.
In the meantime, we congratulate North Carolina and remain hopeful that this cap will be upheld and that the state, its physicians and citizens will soon see the benefits of this cap –including lower North Carolina physician liability rates, less practice of defensive medicine and wasting of resources, and North Carolina becoming a more attractive state for physicians.
Are you a North Carolina physician wanting to lower your North Carolina med mal premiums? If so, contact us today to see if we can help.
New N.C. malpractice law to cap certain damages
By: By Erin Zureick Dunn
From: StarNewsOnline.com
Posted: Wednesday, August 3, 2011
A med mal reform bill set to go into effect in October could deter North Carolina attorneys from accepting those cases, according to a nonprofit trial lawyers group.
It also could spark a flurry of malpractice filings before the law goes into effect, some believe.
