HBA-DMH H.B. 3093 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3093 By: Janek Civil Practices 3/27/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Texas law limits damages in a medical malpractice action for wrongful death to $500,000. Because of an annual adjustment for inflation, the cap is now approximately $1.3 million. The statute was intended to apply to all medical malpractice cases, but has been held to be unconstitutional except with respect to wrongful death. Claimants may circumvent the liability cap by pleading multiple causes of action on a single case and claiming that a separate $1.3 million award applies to each action. House Bill 3093 modifies limits on civil liability for health care claims to ensure that the original intent of the "death cap" adopted by the legislature is maintained in health care liability cases. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 3093 amends the Medical Liability and Insurance Improvement Act of Texas to require, in an action on a health care liability claim where final judgment is rendered against a physician or health care provider and one or more agents or employees of the physician or health care provider, and where the liability of the physician or health care provider is based exclusively on a theory of vicarious liability for the act or omission of the agents or employees, the combined total civil liability of the physician or health care provider and the agents or employees to be limited to an amount not to exceed $500,000, as adjusted by liability limits. This limit on liability applies to the amount of damages awarded in a final judgment on specified health care liability claims and may not be exceeded on the basis that more than one health care liability claim is filed in relation to the occurrence. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.