What would be the limit on pain-and-suffering damages under I-330?
The doctors have said damages could go as high as slightly more than $1 million under certain criteria. But the measure’s opponents and numerous newspaper editorial boards have called that misleading. In what most people consider a normal medical malpractice claim, the cap on non-economic damages would be $350,000. That wouldn’t preclude patients from getting more in separate but related claims. Some plaintiffs might be eligible for up to $350,000 in pain-and-suffering damages for up to two more claims against health care institutions for wrongful acts by non-medical staff. For example, the maximum you’d get for medical malpractice if a surgeon cuts off the wrong leg is $350,000. But you might get $350,000 more if an orderly dropped and injured you on the way to the operating room, and another $350,000 from a lab if it messed up your test results. Barbara Flye, chairwoman of the No-on-330 campaign, contends that is so convoluted it’s “B.S.” The medical association’s lawyer, Mary Spilla
