JACKSON — A federal judge has upheld Mississippi’s limits on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases.
The ruling came in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a woman and her unborn baby who died after being denied potentially lifesaving treatment at a hospital on the Choctaw Reservation in Neshoba County.
U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves applied the caps in the case, finding that his hands were tied and the Mississippi Supreme Court would likely find the caps constitutional.
But Reeves called “offensive” the state law that limited suffering at the hands of a health care provider to no more than $500,000 regardless of the case.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the case say they are considering an appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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