| The Senate on Monday voted to block two bills that would have capped non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits. One bill (S 22) sponsored by Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), would have capped total non-economic damages in malpractice lawsuits at $750,000 and would have capped non-economic damages for individual health care providers at $250,000. A second bill (S 23), sponsored by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), would have capped non-economic damages at similar levels in malpractice lawsuits filed against ob-gyns. Both bills would have allowed punitive damages only in malpractice lawsuits in which defendants acted "with malicious intent to injure the claimant" or "deliberately failed to avoid unnecessary injury." In consecutive votes, both bills failed to receive the 60 votes required to end debate and allow the legislation to move to the Senate floor. The Senate voted 48-42 to end debate on the Ensign bill and 49-44 to end debate on the Santorum bill. The votes marked the fourth and fifth failed attempts in the past three years to move malpractice legislation to the Senate floor. According to reports, the votes indicate that malpractice legislation is "unlikely to more forward ... unless Republicans increase their numbers on Capitol. In consideration of this, your AMC/NOMA believes that meaningful changes in this area must occur at the state level through such programs as our proposed mandatory arbitration legislation, or
SB88.
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