For decades, Michigan’s tort reforms have provided critical stability and predictability for physicians and patients alike, ensuring a fair and balanced legal system while maintaining access to affordable, high-quality care. These reforms, which were passed in the early 1990’s, were the result of years of persistent advocacy and deliberations to address a liability crisis that once threatened Michigan’s healthcare system. 

Now, last minute legislation is threatening to unravel these reforms during the Michigan Legislature’s current lame duck session. Two recently introduced bills, House Bills 6085 and 6086, propose sweeping changes that would undo Michigan’s tort reform guardrails, increase litigation and costs, negatively impact patient care and access, and undermine the progress made. With the legislative session nearing its close, these bills are being rushed forward without proper analysis or debate.

House Bill 6085 - Expanding Noneconomic Damages Awards

House Bill 6085 would drastically increase the value of malpractice claims by:

• Raising the current caps on noneconomic damages as follows:
• $569,000 → $1,000,000 when an exception doesn’t apply.
• $1,016,000 → $3,000,000 when an exception applies.
• Applying the caps independently to each plaintiff against each defendant separately.
• Adding new exceptions with undefined and subjective terms such as “substantial” disfigurement or “serious impairment of an important body function.”
• Waiving caps entirely in cases including, but not limited to, alleged gross negligence, fraud, or previously settled medical malpractice claims.

House Bill 6086 – Expanding Wrongful Death Act Damages

House Bill 6086 propose the following changes:

• Makes available lost earnings capacity damages (i.e., a speculative amount equal to what the deceased patient was projected to earn over the remainder of his/her lifetime without regard for whether there was a surviving spouse, children or other beneficiaries dependent on those earnings for support) in Wrongful Death Act cases.
• Allow such damages even in cases when the deceased patient is an unemancipated minor (calculations of lost earnings capacity would start after the age of 14).
• Add loss of household services to the damages recoverable in Wrongful Death Act cases.

These changes intentionally reverse the Michigan Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Daher v. Prime Healthcare Services-Garden City, LLC, which held that damages available in cases brought pursuant to the Wrongful Death Act (which include all medical malpractice cases where the patient is deceased) do not include the decedent’s lost earnings capacity. The Michigan State Medical Society (MSMS) played a critical role in this decision by filing a joint amicus brief along with the Michigan Health & Hospital Association, the Michigan Osteopathic Association, the American Medical Association, and the Litigation Center. The Michigan Supreme Court’s decision aligned with the arguments presented in our brief. House Bill 6086 threatens to overturn the Daher decision and long over-due correction by expanding damages recoverable in Wrongful Death Act cases.

Michigan physicians are strongly encouraged to ask their Michigan Representative and Senator to oppose House Bills 6085 and 6086. The sponsors of these bills have offered no data or analysis to justify these sweeping changes. However, based on previous experience, we know this legislation would: incentivize litigation, raise malpractice insurance premiums, exacerbate defensive medicine, burden patients and employers, and reduce physician availability.

What You Can Do:

1. Contact your legislators: Demand they oppose House Bills 6085 and 6086. Emphasize the risks to Michigan’s healthcare system and patients.
2. Engage with MSMS: Join today. The more united we are, the stronger our message.
3. Spread the word: Encourage your colleagues to join this critical effort.
4. Attend the virtual December 3^rd State of MSMS Membership Meeting, from 5:30-6:30 pm, where these bills will be discussed: Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xcxFEG4kQ3uNdmbfSNmufA.

Decades of progress hang in the balance. Together, we can prevent a return to the costly, unstable, and unsustainable liability environment Michigan once faced. Act now—contact your legislators today. Let’s protect Michigan’s healthcare future.