Full Text of SB3039 93rd General Assembly
SB3039 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2003 and 2004 SB3039
Introduced 2/6/2004, by David Luechtefeld, Frank C. Watson, Kirk W. Dillard, John O. Jones SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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Amends the Code of Civil Procedure. Provides standards for determining economic and non-economic damages in medical malpractice actions. Effective July 1, 2004.
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A BILL FOR
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SB3039 |
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LRB093 21102 LCB 47151 b |
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| AN ACT concerning civil procedure.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 1. Legislative findings. The General Assembly | 5 |
| finds that: | 6 |
| (1) Illinois is in the midst of a medical malpractice | 7 |
| insurance crisis of unprecedented magnitude. | 8 |
| (2) Illinois is among the states with the highest medical | 9 |
| malpractice insurance premiums in the nation. | 10 |
| (3) Medical malpractice insurance in Illinois is | 11 |
| unavailable or unaffordable for many hospitals and physicians. | 12 |
| (4) The high and increasing cost of medical malpractice | 13 |
| insurance in Illinois is causing health care providers to | 14 |
| eliminate or reduce the provision of medical care throughout | 15 |
| the State. | 16 |
| (5) The crisis is discouraging medical students from | 17 |
| choosing Illinois as the place they will receive their medical | 18 |
| education and practice medicine. | 19 |
| (6) The increase in medical malpractice liability | 20 |
| insurance rates is forcing physicians to practice medicine | 21 |
| without professional liability insurance, to leave Illinois, | 22 |
| to not perform high-risk procedures, or to retire early from | 23 |
| the practice of medicine. | 24 |
| (7) The high and increasing cost of medical malpractice | 25 |
| insurance is due in large part to the inefficiency and | 26 |
| unpredictably of adjudicating claims. | 27 |
| (8) Much of this inefficiency stems from the time and | 28 |
| resources needlessly spent on valuing uncertain and | 29 |
| unpredictable claims of medical negligence. | 30 |
| (9) Individuals bringing malpractice claims would benefit | 31 |
| if the parties spent less time assessing the value of the | 32 |
| claimed injury. | 33 |
| (10) The public would benefit by making medical liability |
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| coverage for hospitals and physicians more affordable, which | 2 |
| would make health care more available. | 3 |
| (11) The public would benefit from creating incentives for | 4 |
| hospitals to ensure that certain unacceptable events never | 5 |
| occur in hospitals. | 6 |
| (12) A fair and reasonable range for awarding non-economic | 7 |
| damages should be used to create an incentive for hospitals to | 8 |
| encourage safer hospital practice and to avoid extensively | 9 |
| debating the value of the claim of medical negligence. | 10 |
| (13) A fair and reasonable range for awarding non-economic | 11 |
| damages should account for differences in the non-economic | 12 |
| losses the plaintiff may suffer based on the type of harm or | 13 |
| medical outcome of medical negligence. | 14 |
| Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by adding | 15 |
| Sections 2-1706.5 and 2-1706.7 as follows: | 16 |
| (735 ILCS 5/2-1706.5 new) | 17 |
| Sec. 2-1706.5. Standards for economic and non-economic | 18 |
| damages. | 19 |
| (a) In any medical malpractice action in which economic and | 20 |
| non-economic damages may be awarded, the following standards | 21 |
| shall apply: | 22 |
| (1) In a case where the hospital's care of the patient | 23 |
| caused the patient's death, the total amount of | 24 |
| non-economic damages shall not exceed $1,500,000 for each | 25 |
| hospital defendant and awarded to each plaintiff in any | 26 |
| civil action arising out of the care. | 27 |
| (2) In a case where the hospital's care of the patient | 28 |
| caused the patient's catastrophic injury, the total amount | 29 |
| of non-economic damages recovered shall not exceed | 30 |
| $2,000,000 for each hospital defendant and awarded to each | 31 |
| plaintiff in any civil action arising out of the care. | 32 |
| (3) Notwithstanding subdivisions (1) and (2) of this | 33 |
| subsection, in a case where the hospital's care of the | 34 |
| patient caused the patient's death or catastrophic injury |
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| and the hospital is found liable under the doctrine of "res | 2 |
| ipsa loquitur", as defined by Section 2-1113 of the Code of | 3 |
| Civil Procedure, the total amount of non-economic damages | 4 |
| shall not exceed $3,000,000 for each hospital defendant and | 5 |
| awarded to each plaintiff in any civil action arising out | 6 |
| of the care. | 7 |
| (4) In any case not covered by subdivision (1), (2), or | 8 |
| (3) of this subsection, the total amount of non-economic | 9 |
| damages shall not exceed $1,000,000 for each hospital | 10 |
| defendant and awarded to each plaintiff in any civil action | 11 |
| arising out of care that caused harm to the plaintiff. | 12 |
| (5) In a case where the physician's care of the patient | 13 |
| caused the patient's death or other injury, the total | 14 |
| amount of non-economic damages shall not exceed $500,000 | 15 |
| for each physician defendant and awarded to each plaintiff | 16 |
| in any civil action arising out of the care. | 17 |
| (6) In awarding damages in a medical malpractice case, | 18 |
| the finder of fact shall render verdicts with specific | 19 |
| award of damages for economic loss, if any, and specific | 20 |
| award of damages for non-economic loss, if any. | 21 |
| (7) In any medical malpractice action where an | 22 |
| individual plaintiff earns less than the annual average | 23 |
| weekly wage, as determined by the Industrial Commission, at | 24 |
| the time the action is filed, any award for economic and | 25 |
| non-economic damages must include an amount equal to this | 26 |
| wage amount multiplied by the plaintiff's life expectancy | 27 |
| in total weeks as if the plaintiff was earning this wage at | 28 |
| the time of the injury that gave rise to the action. | 29 |
| (8) Any party in a medical malpractice case may | 30 |
| introduce annuity evidence to inform the fact finder about | 31 |
| the time value of an award and its ability to cover the | 32 |
| plaintiff's damages over time. | 33 |
| (9) The finder of fact shall take into account and be | 34 |
| aware of the extent to which the award is subject to | 35 |
| federal and State income tax laws. | 36 |
| (b) As used in this Section, the following terms have the |
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| meanings ascribed to them as follows:
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| "Birth-related injury" means any permanent, disabling | 3 |
| damage to the brain or spine caused by oxygen deprivation or | 4 |
| mechanical injury to an infant during labor, delivery, or | 5 |
| resuscitation.
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| "Catastrophic injury" means one of the following outcomes | 7 |
| caused by negligence in a hospital:
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| (1) the patient is hemiplegic, paraplegic, or | 9 |
| quadriplegic resulting in a total permanent functional | 10 |
| loss of one or more limbs caused by injury to the brain or | 11 |
| spinal cord or both; | 12 |
| (2) the patient has total permanent functional loss of | 13 |
| sight, hearing, or one or more limbs unrelated to the | 14 |
| natural course of the patient's illness or underlying | 15 |
| condition; | 16 |
| (3) the patient has permanently impaired cognitive | 17 |
| capacity rendering him or her incapable of making | 18 |
| independent, responsible life decisions and permanently | 19 |
| incapable of independently performing the activities of | 20 |
| normal daily living; | 21 |
| (4) the patient's reproductive organ has been | 22 |
| permanently damaged resulting in an inability to | 23 |
| procreate; or | 24 |
| (5) a birth-related injury. | 25 |
| "Economic damages" means all damages that are tangible, | 26 |
| such as damages for past and future medical expenses and loss | 27 |
| of income or earnings. | 28 |
| "Hospital" means a hospital licensed under the Hospital | 29 |
| Licensing Act and all of its corporate affiliates, employees, | 30 |
| agents, and apparent agents and a hospital licensed under the | 31 |
| University of Illinois Hospital Act and all of its employees, | 32 |
| agents, and apparent agents. | 33 |
| "Medical malpractice action" means any civil action in | 34 |
| tort, contract, or otherwise, in which the plaintiff seeks | 35 |
| damages for injuries or death arising out of the action or | 36 |
| inaction of a hospital in rendering health care services to a |
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| patient inside the hospital or arising out of the action or | 2 |
| inaction of a physician. | 3 |
| "Non-economic damages" mean subjective, non-pecuniary | 4 |
| damages arising from death, pain, suffering, disfigurement, | 5 |
| inconvenience, mental anguish, worry, emotional distress, loss | 6 |
| of society and companionship, loss of consortium, physical | 7 |
| impairment, injury to reputation, humiliation, embarrassment, | 8 |
| loss of enjoyment if life, hedonic damages, increased risk of | 9 |
| future injury, other non-pecuniary damages, and any other | 10 |
| theory of damages such as fear of loss, illness, injury, or | 11 |
| future loss. | 12 |
| "Physician" means a physician licensed to practice | 13 |
| medicine in all of its branches under the Medical Practice Act | 14 |
| of 1987 and any physician-owned legal entity. | 15 |
| (c) This amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly | 16 |
| applies to causes of action accruing on or after its effective | 17 |
| date.
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, | 19 |
| 2004.
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