SF 557 (LSB 2536SV (1) 89)

SENATE FILE 557

BY  COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

(SUCCESSOR TO SSB 1225)

(COMPANION TO HF 592 BY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to noneconomic damage awards against health care providers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 147.136A, subsection 2, Code 2021, is amended to read as follows:
   2.  The total amount recoverable in any civil action for noneconomic damages for personal injury or death, whether in tort, contract, or otherwise, against a health care provider shall be limited to two hundred fifty thousand one million dollars for any occurrence resulting in injury or death of a patient regardless of the number of plaintiffs, derivative claims, theories of liability, or defendants in the civil action, unless the jury determines that there is a substantial or permanent loss or impairment of a bodily function, substantial disfigurement, or death, which warrants a finding that imposition of such a limitation would deprive the plaintiff of just compensation for the injuries sustained.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   Under current law, the limit for the total amount recoverable for noneconomic damages for personal injury or death against a health care provider in a civil action is $250,000, unless the jury determines that there is substantial or permanent loss or impairment of a bodily function, substantial disfigurement, or death, which warrants a finding that imposition of such a limitation would deprive the plaintiff of just compensation for the injuries sustained. This bill increases the cap from $250,000 to $1 million and removes the exception to the cap.