House Republicans vote to limit medical malpractice lawsuits, repeal part of health care law

Dallas Morning News
Thursday, March 22, 2012

Days before the Supreme Court hears arguments about the constitutionality of the 2010 health care law, House Republicans on Thursday voted to repeal part of President Obama's signature legislation as well as place limitations on medical malpractice lawsuits.

The 223-181 vote was largely symbolic as Senate Democrats are not expected to consider it, and President Barack Obama has promised a veto. The House already voted to repeal the entire law last year after the GOP takeover.

The cap, which is $250,000 for noneconomic damages, is based on similar limits in Texas and California. Critiques of the measure say the laws in those states have harmed some patients more than others since the laws took effect.

"The states that have had caps like this on their books--studies of those states show that they impact the most seriously injured patients, because it's only a seriously injured patient that even gets to the level of that cap," said Joanne Doroshow, executive director of the Center for Justice and Democracy.

For a copy of the complete article, contact CJ&D.

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