Bill Allowing Punitive Damages in Wrongful Death Cases Passed
Before working on the "inside" in insurance risk management for a large national hospital system, I never really thought about the impact large verdicts have on a hospital and I used to think that they would make healthcare safer and take "bad doctors" out of the system. After some time in my current position and attending my first trial from "this side of the isle", my views have changed. I saw an amazing doctor who was put in an impossible situation with one of her patients who eventually passed away. There were so many factors that came into play in this case, but the actions of this physician were not the only issue that may have lead to the death of their patient. While I knew that doctors and hospitals don't have to be THE CAUSE they only have to be A PROXIMATE CAUSE to be found liable for the whole thing, I never really thought about the small standard that is until now.
House Bill 219 (formerly 35) has passed. As of this moment, they’ve adopted the amendments to the bill that provide for punitive damages, except for claims against the state or its employees, and claims against local government and its employees. It is my understanding that there is still an amendment in the works that would carve out for healing art malpractice and legal malpractice, but they have not been finalized.
Between staffing shortages, supply chain issues and rapid inflation increasing the cost of healthcare in this country on top of the reduction in payment amounts from Medicare and Medicaid, when you now add on the fact that there can be punitive damages added on the economic and non-economic damages of a claim, this can be a devastating blow to the cost of doing business in an already overly burdened industry. It will be interesting to see what the passage of this will mean for verdicts here in Illinois, but also scares me to think about the cost it will mean to all of us in the end.
Read the full bill here.
Melissa Jurik
IPA President