Colorado law imposes damage caps on medical malpractice claims against hospitals and physicians. Awards may not exceed $1M per patient, and of that $1M, no more than $250,000 may be attributable to non-economic loss or injury. For patients with staggering medical bills, courts may find that future economic damages exceed this cap, and award damages in excess of the limit, but only if it would be unfair to do so otherwise.
A new documentary, Hot Coffee, presents the position that such damage caps relieve the wrongdoer of responsibility for damages, and ultimately require taxpayers to pay for medical malpractice victims' expensive healthcare costs. One of the families featured in the film became the victim of medical malpractice when their doctor failed to properly monitor the birth of twins, resulting in one of the twins being born with cerebral palsy.
In a revealing interview conducted after the film's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, the family describes how they were successful at trial, but lost much of their damage award after the judge applied Nebraska's med mal cap. The jury awarded the family just over $5.5M, about half of their son's projected medical expenses (estimated at $12.4M); however, the judge reduced the award to $1.25M to comply with the hard cap.
Fortunately, Colorado allows for higher damage awards in some cases; however, our state's cap is regularly enforced, and the Colorado Supreme Court has held it to be constitutional. Therefore, in order to receive proper compensation for your injuries beyond the cap, it is imperative to hire an attorney who can establish that it would be unfair to reduce your damage award.
If you have been injured because a healthcare provider breached the industry's standard of care, contact us for assistance. In most cases, doctors, hospitals, and other medical professionals have substantial insurance policies to cover claims. There is no reason that you, or the taxpayers, should foot the bill for an injury caused by a medical professional's negligence, recklessness, or wrongful conduct.
