Support HB 6085: Restore Justice for Michigan Victims of Medical Malpractice
Contact your Michigan legislators and encourage them to pass HB 6085 today.
The civil malpractice liability system exists to encourage quality care, bringing substandard care to the attention of hospitals and insurers, and to provide appropriate compensation to victims of medical malpractice and medical mistakes as determined by a jury of peers. However, for years, Michigan lawyers were unable to represent some Michigan families victimized by medical malpractice because it would cost more to pursue a case than could be recovered for the family under Michigan law. These cases were economically unfeasible due to caps on the amount of monetary damages in medical malpractice claims enacted initially in 1986. Such caps meant that if a jury awarded certain non-economic damages (say for pain, suffering, disability, or disfigurement) in a medical malpractice case, the wise decision of the jury was reduced after the verdict to a dollar amount set by Michigan law.
The initial purpose of damage caps in medical malpractice cases, according to lawmakers, was to reduce costs within the healthcare system. Decades later, such caps failed to reduce costs within the healthcare system, nor have these caps made Michigan patients safer. Medical malpractice remains the third leading cause of death in the United States, meanwhile healthcare revenues are estimated to be trillions of dollars each year. These damage caps need to be reformed to ensure that the civil medical malpractice liability system remains an appropriate check healthcare providers and appropriately compensates patients harmed by substandard care.
Michigan House Bill 6085 was introduced by Representative Carrie Rheingans on November 13, 2024. The proposed legislation seeks to increase caps that limit non-economic damages (i.e. pain, suffering, disability, or disfigurement) patients or their families can receive when an injury or death is caused by medical malpractice. It will also move death caused by medical malpractice into the higher cap to more adequately reflect the cost of a human life, and will create exemptions to the caps when a provider engages in egregious conduct like destroying records or providing care under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Michiganders can end damage caps that preclude medical malpractice victims from just compensation now by using this linked form to contact legislators today. Ask Michigan lawmakers to support House Bill 6085 to restore justice for victims injured or killed by malpractice.
The linked form is generously provided by the Michigan Association for Justice, an organization of lawyers on the side of people in Michigan, of which Birth Justice Law Firm attorney Emily G. Thomas is a board member.
