The dirty little secret here is that the doctor (or his insurance company) will never even pay the $250,000 amount because they know that is the most damage that can be done to them at trial -- so why offer the innocent victim worst case scenario? Even with obviously clear medical malpractice claims, such as the doctor who cuts an artery of the patient who bleeds to death or gives the wrong medication to the patient who dies of an allergic reaction when the sensitivity to the medication is known, there is never a payout of $250,000. In reality, the $250,000 cap turns into a $200,000 cap or a $190,000 cap or whatever the insurance company or doctor wants to pay. Keep in mind that thanks to inflation, $200,000 in 1975 is about $42,000 in today’s dollars. Would that law have been passed if the amount was $42,000 for the death of a loved one? Hardly. There would have been outrage that a human life was being valued at $42,000. However, that is exactly what we have now and there is no outrage because the majority of the public has no clue that such a law was passed and exists today.