Illinois Medical Malpractice Caps: An Overview
On August 25, 2005, an Illinois law went into effect that placed monetary limits on the possible awards in medical malpractice cases (735 ILCS 5/2.1706.5). In a case against a hospital the caps are set at $1 Million, and against a physician at $500,000.
Since its inception this law has caused much debate, the most recent of which involves a November decision by the Cook County Circuit Court ruling this law to be unconstitutional. Judge Joan Diane Larsen determined that caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases violates the Illinois Constitution by violating the Separation of Powers Clause. This clause states that three branches of government (legislative, executive, and judicial) are separate and that no branch shall exercise powers properly belonging to another (Illinois Constitution).
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The plaintiffs' son was prescribed Paxil by his dermatologist, not for his acne, but to treat a psychiatric disorder in which the individual is overly concerned about real or imagined defects in their physical appearance. Shortly after the second prescription of Paxil was refilled, the plaintiff's son committed suicide. 
