Fairness Act
The father of a 30-year-old man disabled for life by medical negligence when he was two, and the parents of a young girl with life-long disabilities who await their daughter’s medical negligence trial, have qualified the Fairness for Injured Patients Act (FIPA) for the November 2022 California ballot.
Californians harmed by medical negligence can’t get justice because of a cap set in 1975 by the state legislature that limits compensation for lost quality of life and wrongful death, and has never been updated.
The cap hurts every Californian, but disproportionately harms Black, Hispanic and Indigenous people, low-income patients, women, and children.
Meet campaign chair Charles Johnson, whose wife Kira died after giving birth when her bladder was cut and her complaints of pain were negligently ignored for 10 hours.
The Fairness for Injured Patients Act (FIPA) would adjust the maximum $250,000 compensation cap for inflation, allows judges and jurors to decide that compensation above the cap is appropriate in certain cases of catastrophic injury or death, and requires that juries be informed about the existence of the cap.
Meet FIPA proponent Scott Olsen and his 30-year-old son Steven, who has permanent brain damage from medical negligence when he was two.
Meet FIPA proponents Nelson and Bree Moreno and their daughter Mia, who has cerebral palsy and will never be independent due to medical negligence.
Meet more patients denied justice in California because of the 45-year-old limits on patient rights.
- Consumer Watchdog endorses the Fairness for Injured Patients Act to win equal justice for survivors of medical negligence. Read the press release.
- Learn more about the 45-year-old cap
- Newspaper editorial boards agree it’s time to adjust the cap
- Most states in America do not have caps like California's
- Medical negligence caps harm women of color
- Questions and Answers About the Fairness for Injured Patients Act
- Read the Fairness for Injured Patients Act
- The discriminatory impact of caps on communities of color
Sacramento, CA – Consumer Watchdog renewed its call for Governor Gavin Newsom to withdraw the nomination of Dr. Richard Thorp, former president of the doctors’ lobby, to the Medical Board of California.
01/13/2021 - 11:11
Los Angeles, CA -- An HIV positive man filed a discrimination lawsuit in federal court to coincide with World AIDS Day against a surgeon and medical group for refusing to treat him because of his HIV status.
12/01/2020 - 11:01
Manteca, CA – The family of Shawn Washington, a 29-year-old Black man killed by medical negligence at Kaiser Manteca Medical Center, called on the Medical Board of California and the California Department of Public Health to hold his medical providers, and the hospital where he died, acc
09/24/2020 - 10:10
Los Angeles, CA - As California courts and voters confront the injustice of the state’s 45-year-old limits on the rights of medical negligence victims, Consumer Watchdog celebrates World Patient Safety Day on Sept.
09/17/2020 - 09:40
Los Angeles, CA — Having collected 900,000 signatures and raised over $4 million, the survivors of medical negligence behind a California ballot measure to adjust California’s 45-year-old cap on quality of life and survivor damages announced today that the Secretary of State has certified the ini
07/22/2020 - 09:05
Bakersfield, CA – The Medical Board of California’s decision to allow Dr.
06/03/2020 - 10:56
