Malpractice Caps When You Are the Victim

During surgery to treat diverticulitis, doctors left a one foot long sponge in a Florida man. When it was finally determined that a sponge had been left behind, doctors operated again to remove part of the patient’s intestine, which allegedly had been damaged by the sponge.

The man reached a settlement and now plans to sue the doctors. Because this kind of thing happens far too frequently, it would not rise to the level of a new story. But the patient is a 67-year old Palm Beach judge.

Low and behold, the Wall Street Journal reports that the judge has a new take on medical malpractice damage caps: he does not believe in them.

“I don’t know what all these caps are. That is not my area of the law,” the judge said. “But what I would like to see is when you have malpractice per se, something this egregious, the damages should be between the parties, a judge and jury without the state legislature dictating limits.”