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Damages cap upheld in charitable-hospital malpractice case.

Article Excerpt
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has overturned a trial court's decision in a malpractice case to strike a damages cap that protects a hospital as a charitable organization.

On behalf of the majority, Justice John Greaney wrote that the statutory language that installed the $20,000 cap "does not allow an interpretation chat negligent conduct on the part of a charitable corporation constitutes a waiver" of the recovery limitation. (Keene v. Brigham and Women's Hosp., Inc., 786 N.E.2d 824 (Mass. 2003).)

Forty-one states have abolished such caps; of the remaining nine, Massachusetts's cap, which was set in 1971, is one of the most restrictive.

Although the court said the trial judge was wrong to sanction the hospital for failing to produce critical records pertaining to the care of a newborn who suffered brain damage while in the hospital nursery, Greaney suggested that the plaintiffs might have...

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