Medical Malpractice Bill Passes House By Wide Margin

INDIANAPOLIS -- House lawmakers Thursday approved a bill that raises the amount a patient can get in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Members of the House describe the bill as “far from perfect, but better than it has been.”

The bill increases the cap on a medical malpractice award to $1.8 million by 2019 – up from its current limit of $1.25 million.

Proponents say that increase accounts for economic changes since 1999, when the cap was last raised.

Rep. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, says it will protect the malpractice law from constitutional challenges.

Rep. Jerry Torr, R-Carmel, alluding to some of the pushback the bill received from doctor’s groups, says lawmakers arrived at a good compromise by removing additional cap increases that used to be in the bill.

“You’re not gonna make everybody jump up and down and talk about how happy they are, but if everybody’s a little bit equally unhappy, then that’s kind of where we need to be,” Torr says.

The bill passed 90-5. It now heads to conference committee.