Denver Post staff editorial

...We're troubled by a bill pending in the state Senate that would raise the ceiling on medical malpractice awards — while boosting premiums on malpractice insurance and possibly leading to reduced health care services in already underserved rural areas of Colorado.

Senate Bill 164 by Senate President Peter Groff, D-Denver, would raise the ceiling on "non-economic" damages in such lawsuits from the current limit of $300,000 to a new, inflation-adjusted level of about $462,000.

If that's all the measure did, we could live with it — since Groff's bill doesn't increase the nominal ceiling on malpractice awards of all kinds from its current $1 million level. But the measure goes on to create a new class of "economic damages" for disfigurement and impairment — issues currently classified as "non-economic damages" along with pain and suffering....

Read full editorial: http://www.denverpost.com/editorials/ci_8383423