Many states have passed laws in the last few decades to limit the amount of money a victim of medical malpractice can be awarded as damages. This has been done try to limit frivolous lawsuits and to keep the costs down for malpractice insurance. In several states, though, this cap has been challenged. In Wisconsin it was challenged by a quadruple amputee, permanently disabled because of medical errors. She took her case to the state supreme court and lost.
Wisconsin’s Damages Cap
In malpractice cases victims of medical negligence may seek two types of damages: economic damages cover all actual costs that result from the errors, like medical bills and lost wages, and non-economic damages compensate for things that cannot be quantified, like pain and suffering. In Wisconsin, non-economic damages only are capped at $750,000. There is no cap on economic damages that can be recovered in a malpractice lawsuit.
Critics of the cap say that it hurts the victims who have been harmed the most by medical negligence. People who are severely injured, disfigured, and disabled because of a mistake can seek no more than $750,000 for pain and suffering. The cap, critics say, limits those most harmed while people who suffer minor harm have a chance to get as much compensation as they deserve. Another issue is that if compensation is limited, lawyers may be forced to turn away even victims with valid claims, simply because it costs too much to follow through.
Quadruple Amputee Fights Damages Cap
Ascaris Mayo, 57 years old and a mother of four had to undergo four amputation surgeries on each of her limbs because of errors made when she developed a Strep A infection. She went to Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital in Milwaukee in 2011 because of a high fever and abdominal pain. She was discharged and told to go to her gynecologist because of a history of fibroids in the uterus.
Mayo went to another hospital the next day where it was discovered that she actually had a severe infection that had caused septic shock. This led to organ failure and gangrene in all four limbs. This necessitated the amputations that have now left her severely disabled, unable to work, and dependent on others for care.
Her case of malpractice was clear, but the amount of money Mayo was awarded mostly covered past and future medical expenses. She decided to challenge the cap of $750,000 for her pain and suffering, disfigurement, disability, lower quality of life, and loss of consortium with her husband. An appellate court judge agreed with her and ruled the cap unconstitutional in 2017.
Supreme Court Rules Cap is Constitutional
In June of 2018 the decision went to the highest court in the state and the justices ruled five to two that the cap is, in fact, constitutional and that Mayo is not entitled to any more than $750,000 for all the harm caused to her. The jury that Mayo originally faced in 2014 awarded her $16.5 million in non-economic damages. Thanks to the new ruling it will be reduced to the cap amount.
The Supreme Court wrote that the justices acted to respect the laws passed by the state legislature. The justices also stated that while the Mayo family were sympathetic and acknowledged that the harm caused was severe, they acted to keep emotion out of the decision to maintain the damages cap. Medical, doctor, and hospital organizations were on the side of upholding the cap, while medical malpractice lawyers and victim advocates were hoping the Supreme Court would uphold the unconstitutional ruling of the lower courts.