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Civil Litigation

Jan. 26, 2005

Caps Provide Incentives to Terminate Babies' Life Support

Much of the debate about tort reform has focused on limiting noneconomic damages to $250,000. The traditional argument in favor of this position claims that such a cap would reduce the cost of malpractice insurance. An additional argument claims that there is no rational way to put a price on the value of a life or the value of lifelong pain and suffering.

Bruce G. Fagel

Law Offices of Bruce G. Fagel & Associates

Phone: (310) 516-9035

Email: brucefagel@fagellaw.com

Whittier College School of Law

Bruce G. Fagel is licensed to practice medicine and is founder of the Law Offices of Bruce G. Fagel & Associates. He served as a consultant on medical malpractice law to the California Judicial Counsel Committee, which wrote the new CACI jury instructions. He can be reached at brucefagel@fagellaw.com

Much of the debate about tort reform has focused on limiting noneconomic damages to $250,000. The traditional argument in favor of this position claims that such a cap would reduce the cost of malpractice insurance. An additional argument claims that there is no rational way to put a price on the value of a life or the value of lifelong pain and suffering.

Against those claims, opponents of tort reform claim that such caps do not affect insurance costs, but they do agree that it is di...

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