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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House has approved legislation that seeks to reinstate limits on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits.
An audience of doctors wearing lab coats was on hand for the 94-61 vote Wednesday that moved the bill to the Senate.
The measure attempts to reimpose a $350,000 cap struck down by the Missouri Supreme Court in 2012 on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases. The court ruled the cap violated a right to a jury trial that it said had been embedded in the Missouri Constitution since 1820.
This year's bill would declare medical malpractice claims are not covered through common law in place at the time the state Constitution was adopted. Instead, claims would be subject to state law.
Doctors also held a rally Wednesday at the Capitol.
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