SOURCE: Law 360
A challenge in federal court is the first step that medical liability lawsuit plaintiffs have taken to overturn long-standing and successful reforms for Texas patients.
More than a dozen plaintiffs are seeking class-action status in support of a declaratory judgment that the reasonable limit of $250,000 on non-economic damages is unconstitutional. The group is preparing for what could be a years-long battle that could reach the highest court in the U.S.
The lead attorney in the case is attempting to stretch the interpretation of the Seventh Amendment’s right to a jury trial with the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Health care providers are prepared to support the fact that the courts have selectively applied the incorporation of certain constitutional rights to the states and have stopped short of incorporating the Seventh Amendment.
Undoing the reforms that brought urgently needed health care resources to the state would harm patient access to care.
“The legislature and the voters understood the need for limits on non-economic damages to resolve serious deficiencies in the ability for patients to access basic and necessary care,” said Yvonne Puig, an attorney for the Texas Hospital Association.
“The Texas Hospital Association is confident these statutory limitations on non-economic damages, enacted to resolve a healthcare crisis in Texas nearly 20 years ago, do not violate the U.S. Constitution.”
To read more about what is sure to be a protracted battle between health care providers and personal injury attorneys, click here (subscription required).