Fairness Act
After Californians organized to update the cap and gathered enough signatures to place the Fairness for Injured Patients Act on the November 2022 California ballot, their efforts were rewarded by Governor Newsom’s historic signature on legislation to update California’s 47-year-old medical malpractice damage cap and restore injured patients’ access to justice.
Proponents of the Fairness for Injured Patients Act, including Consumer Watchdog board member Scott Olsen, withdrew the initiative measure that spurred the legislative compromise from the ballot in response to the legislative compromise.
That deal was signed into law in May 2022 and law will restore injured families’ access to justice.
The bill, AB 35, will restore families’ access to justice by:
- Increasing the cap to $500,000 for wrongful death cases and $350,000 for injury cases on January 1 of 2023.
- Raising the cap in increments every year for ten years, until it reaches $1 million for wrongful death cases and $750,000 for injury cases in 2033.
- Allowing for up to three separate caps in cases when multiple providers and institutions are responsible. Starting next year the maximum cap could be $1.5 million for wrongful death cases, and $1.05 million for injury cases. By 2033 it will be a maximum $3 million for wrongful death and $2.25 million for injury cases.
- Increasing the cap by 2% every year starting in 2034.
See below for a history of cases from Californians harmed by medical negligence because of a cap set in 1975 by the state legislature that limited compensation for lost quality of life and wrongful death, and had 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.
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.
GET THE FACTS
- 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
Los Angeles, CA – Consumer Watchdog called on legislative leaders to enact a Patient Bill of Rights to reform physician oversight and accountability in California. The nonprofit consumer advocacy organization said reform proposals recently floated by the Medical Board of California are g
01/27/2022 - 09:12
Los Angeles, CA – Insurance companies who profit by denying fair compensation to patients injured or killed by medical malpractice have put up $27.8 million to oppose the Fairness for Injured Patients Act.
01/10/2022 - 09:52
Stockton, CA -- Women whose doctors sexually abuse and assault them are denied justice both by the Medical Board of California, as a Los Angeles Times investigation revealed this week, and in the courts because of the 1975 law limiting legal accountability for doctors that is the target
12/20/2021 - 14:05
Bakersfield, CA – The Medical Board of California has allowed a 25-year repeat offender doctor to surrender his license on a technicality and not face charges before an administrative law judge in an accusation based on the death of a local mother.
Sacramento, CA -- Steve Poizner, former Insurance Commissioner of California, endorsed the Fairness for Injured Patients Act to update California’s cap on quality of life and survivor damages for patients harmed by medical negligence.
12/16/2021 - 09:46
Los Angeles, CA – Two parents of children injured by medical negligence called out a doctor opposing the Fairness For Injured Patients Act because they were “deeply offended” by his “comment that compensation for death or lifelong harm is capped under California’s nearly 50 year old law because s
12/15/2021 - 09:34
Los Angeles, CA -- Families of injured patients whose medical negligence cases have been disregarded by the California medical board today voiced their support for the public member of the board who is blowing the whistle on the board’s failure to protect patients, as outlined in today’s LA Times
11/17/2021 - 09:54
Los Angeles, CA -- A coalition of patients and families harmed by medical negligence launched a new website today – 11/09/2021 - 09:11
Los Angeles, CA – Consumer Watchdog is debuting a digital ofrenda (altar) celebrating the lives of Californians who died due to medical negligence today and tomorrow in recognition of Dia de los Muertos. Advocate families that span across California recorded videos sharing a glimpse int
11/02/2021 - 11:10
Once again, the medical lobby’s stranglehold on the legislature ensured that bad doctors will not be held accountable by the Medical Board of California.
10/19/2021 - 13:14
Sacramento, CA – Today’s CBS This Morning special investigation makes a damning case for reform of physician oversight and legal accountability in California. The segment documents how the influence of the doctors’ lobby on lawmakers and on the Medical Board of California allows bad doc
09/22/2021 - 13:38
Fairness Act on November 2022 Ballot Will Restore Accountability That Medical Board Does Not Provide Injured Patients
07/14/2021 - 08:59
Los Angeles, CA – The must-see documentary “Never Events,” that follows the journey of multiple families who fought for change after suffering lifelong harm or loss due to medical negligence, debuts this week on Amazon, Apple TV and other streaming services.
07/01/2021 - 11:16
NEWS UPDATE: June 3, 2021
06/01/2021 - 12:59
Sacramento, CA – California lawmakers have moved legislation to the Senate Floor to make California the first state in the nation whose Medical Board has a majority of public, not doctor, members.
05/26/2021 - 09:36
