@Yanny:
Well, I just have a problem with a cap on how much you can be awarded. If say, my doctor was careless during a major operation and in result I will suffer from a bad heart condition which will require monthly check ups and lots of medication, shouldn’t I be able to sue the doctor for more than (the proposed, I know you didn’t propose it) 250,000$? No, I’d sue for millions. Why? Not only has my health been permanently scarred, not only will I be on more medication for the rest of my life. No, its going ot cost me a lot more than 250,000$.
the problem i have with this is that no doctor (well, nearly no doctor) intentionally botches up a surgery. Furthermore, there is the whole “misadventure” thing. This is when people have different anatomy, unknown biophysiological characteristics and disorders etc. that causes a surgery to appear “botched”. This does not mean that the physician was not competent, or did his best, but that there were circumstances beyond his/her control. As for the “careless” doctor - this does happen, but not too frequently, and when it does, it is due to “human error”. Naturally it sucks when this human error is committed on you. At the same time, nice as it would be to crucify this doctor over a simple (however occassionally crippling) mistake, how far do you take this? Is it right to destroy a “human”, possibly wonderful doctor due to personal circumstances? Many would say yes, and i can see this perspective, however from my point of view, it is hard to do this.