[media-credit name=’NATALIE WEINBERGER/Herald Photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]The Wisconsin State Senate passed legislation limiting the amount of compensation awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits, in a party-line vote at the Capitol Tuesday.

The bill would reinstate the cap on non-economic, or "pain and suffering," damage awards at $450,000 for adults and $550,000 for minors, and was approved by a 19-14 vote in the Senate.

A previous cap on such damage awards was overturned by the Wisconsin Supreme Court earlier this year, when it found the $445,755 limit was unconstitutional due to its arbitrary nature.

"We needed to pass this bill today because in the summer, the court had ruled the caps which had been in place in Wisconsin since 1995 were unconstitutional," Mike Prentiss, a spokesman for State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, a cosponsor of the bill, said.

The adjustments made to the former cap, which were written into this legislation, addressed concerns voiced by state Supreme Court justices when the ruling was handed down.

"We relied on actuarial studies that showed exactly what effect caps at a variety of different levels would have on Wisconsin's health-care environment," Prentiss said. "It also provides a system whereby there's going to be a regular review of the caps."

The reviews will be conducted by "non-political entities" and would determine whether any alterations need to be done to the caps, such as increases to the limit due to inflation.

Throughout the country, Prentiss said, similar caps have proven to be effective and give "stability" to the health-care industry.

"It makes it easier to keep good doctors here, and I don't think anyone in Wisconsin would want to see a situation where we're losing skilled physicians, especially in important, high-risk specialties," Prentiss said.

While the legislation places a limit on the amount of pain and suffering damages, Prentiss added the proposed law has no effect on economic awards in medical malpractice suits.

Though the legislation had full support from Senate Republicans, Senate Democrats opposed the bill.

State Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, who cast a dissenting vote against the bill, said though malpractice caps are necessary, the restrictions of the bill were too similar to the previous cap which was repealed by the state Supreme Court.

"When a patient is damaged as a result of medical malpractice, these are oftentimes life-altering circumstances that can lead to a lifetime of disfigurement, or of pain or of severe impairment of normal life," Miller said. "There needs to be a way that they can be appropriately compensated."

An amendment was proposed by Miller — which he referred to as a "compromise cap" — to raise the limit to $1 million; however, the measure was rejected by the Senate.

"We need to try to find a solution that provides adequate protection for patients who are injured as well as provide a stable environment for doctors to practice medicine," Miller, who called the reinstatement of the cap a "slap in the face" to the Supreme Court, said.

Miller said Gov. Jim Doyle, who is currently in Europe, is likely to veto the bill in the weeks after his return.

"He has given some indication he doesn't feel that there is any way that he can, in good conscience, sign a re-imposition of the cap," Miller said.

The bill was approved by the state Assembly two weeks ago in what Assembly Republicans touted as a "veto-proof" vote after it was given the nod by more than two-thirds of the representatives present. However, the Senate vote Tuesday would not be enough to garner a full veto override.