Illinois Hospital Association

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November 20, 2006

IHA Statement on Challenge to Medical Liability Reform Law

As expected, trial lawyers in Illinois have decided to challenge Illinois’ new medical liability reform law, P.A. 94-677. A case was filed today in the Circuit Court of Cook County seeking to challenge the cap on non-economic damages ($500,000 for physicians and $1 million for hospitals).

The Illinois Hospital Association (IHA) is confident that caps on non-economic damages in medical liability cases will be upheld as constitutional and that caps are in the best interests of patients and the health care delivery system in Illinois. The medical liability crisis and the facts of the crisis were one of the most thoroughly debated and investigated issues ever by the General Assembly. There was bipartisan agreement that there is a crisis, and there was bipartisan support for the comprehensive medical liability reform legislation that was signed into law by the Governor.

Since the passage of the medical liability reform legislation in 2005, the IHA has been working diligently to prepare the arguments designed to persuade Illinois courts to uphold this landmark legislation. Our search for a constitutional "test case" led to a filing of an earlier counterclaim in the Circuit Court of Cook County in September by a Chicago-area hospital. A hearing is scheduled to be held on December 7 on that counterclaim seeking a judicial determination that the limits imposed by P.A. 94-677 on non-economic damages in medical liability cases are constitutional.

IHA strongly believes that P.A. 94-677 is in the best interests of patients in Illinois and that it is constitutional. We are hopeful that any case concerning the constitutionality of the law will go to the Illinois Supreme Court as quickly as possible so that the full benefits of the law can take effect.