Mayo v. Wisconsin Injured Patients & Families Compensation Fund

2017 WI App 52, 901 N.W.2d 782, 377 Wis. 2d 566, 2017 WL 2874614, 2017 Wisc. App. LEXIS 494
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedJuly 5, 2017
DocketNo. 2014AP2812
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 2017 WI App 52 (Mayo v. Wisconsin Injured Patients & Families Compensation Fund) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mayo v. Wisconsin Injured Patients & Families Compensation Fund, 2017 WI App 52, 901 N.W.2d 782, 377 Wis. 2d 566, 2017 WL 2874614, 2017 Wisc. App. LEXIS 494 (Wis. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinions

KESSLER, J.

¶ 1. This is an appeal stemming from a circuit court decision finding the $750,000 cap on noneconomic damages in medical practice actions, as articulated in Wis. Stat. § 893.55 (2015-16),1 unconstitutional as it applied to Ascaris and Antonio Mayo. This is also a cross-appeal of the circuit court's finding that the statutory cap is not unconstitutional on its face. We conclude that the statutory cap on noneco-nomic damages is unconstitutional on its face because it violates the same principles our supreme court articulated in Ferdon ex rel. Petrucelli v. Wisconsin Patients Comp. Fund, 2005 WI 125, 284 Wis. 2d 573, 701 N.W.2d 440, by imposing an unfair and illogical [571]*571burden only on catastrophically injured patients, thus denying them the equal protection of the laws. We conclude that because Wisconsin's cap on noneconomic medical malpractice damages always reduces noneco-nomic damages only for the class of the most severely injured victims who have been awarded damages exceeding the cap, yet always allows full damages to the less severely injured malpractice victims, this cap denies equal protection to that class of malpractice victims whose adequate noneconomic damages a fact-finder has determined are in excess of the cap. Because we conclude that the statutory cap is facially unconstitutional, we need not reach the question of whether the cap is unconstitutional as it applies to the Mayos and we do not disturb the circuit court's findings as to that question. Because the effect of our decision still entitles the Mayos to their jury award, we affirm the circuit court, albeit on different grounds.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2. This case concerns a catastrophic injury sustained by Ascaris Mayo stemming from an untreated septic infection. Despite a hospital visit, the infection ultimately resulted in the amputation of all of her extremities. According to facts adduced at trial, in May 2011, Ascaris Mayo visited the emergency room of Columbia St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee for abdominal pain and a high fever. Mayo was seen by Dr. Wyatt Jaffe and a physician's assistant, Donald Gibson. Gibson included infection in his differential diagnosis and admitted at trial that Mayo met the criteria for Systematic Inflammatory Response Syndrome. Neither medical professional informed Mayo about the diagnosis or the available treatment, namely, antibiotics. Instead, Mayo was told to follow up with her [572]*572personal gynecologist for her history of uterine fi-broids. Mayo's condition worsened. The following day, Mayo visited a different emergency room, where she was diagnosed with a septic infection caused by the untreated infection. Mayo became comatose and eventually became minimally responsive until she was transferred to another medical facility. Ultimately, the sepsis caused nearly all of Mayo's organs to fail and led to dry gangrene in all four of Mayo's extremities, necessitating the amputation of all of Mayo's extremities.

¶ 3. The Mayos sued Dr. Jaffe, Gibson, Infinity Health Care, Inc., ProAssurance Wisconsin Insurance Co., and the Wisconsin Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund, alleging medical malpractice and failure to provide proper informed consent.

¶ 4. The Fund filed a motion to consider constitutionality issues pre-trial. The circuit court addressed the issue of whether the statutory cap on noneconomic damages, as stated by Wis. Stat. § 893.55(4)(d)l. ("the cap"), was unconstitutional. Ultimately, the circuit court held that the cap was not facially unconstitutional but allowed the Mayos to raise an as-applied challenge to the cap post-trial if the Mayos so chose.

¶ 5. After a lengthy jury trial, the jury found that neither Dr. Jaffe nor Gibson was negligent, but that both medical professionals failed to provide Mayo with the proper informed consent regarding her diagnosis and treatment options. As material to these appeals, the jury awarded Ascaris Mayo $15,000,000 in noneco-nomic damages and Antonio Mayo $1,500,000 for his loss of the society and companionship of his wife.

f 6. Post-verdict, the Fund moved to reduce the Mayos' jury award to the $750,000 statutory cap on noneconomic damages imposed by Wis. Stat. § 893.55. [573]*573The Mayos moved for entry of judgment on the verdict, arguing that an application of the cap would violate their constitutional rights. The Mayos also renewed their pre-trial facial challenge to the cap. The parties again fully briefed the constitutional issues and the circuit court reconsidered the constitutional questions.

¶ 7. The circuit court determined that the cap was not facially unconstitutional, but that it was unconstitutional as applied to the Mayos because it violated the Mayos' rights to equal protection and due process. Relying in part on the principles articulated by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Ferdon, the circuit court made multiple findings, including: (1) application of the cap would reduce the Mayos' noneconomic damages jury award by 95.46%; (2) there is no rational basis to deprive Ascaris Mayo, who is largely immobile, of the money the jury found necessary to compensate her for her injuries; (3) reducing the Mayos' jury award would not further the cap's purpose of promoting affordable healthcare to Wisconsin residents while also ensuring adequate compensation to medical malpractice victims; (4) financially, the Fund was more than capable of honoring the jury's award without jeopardizing its solvency; and (5) applying the cap would not advance the legislative purpose of "policing high or unpredictable economic damage awards."

¶ 8. Both the Fund and the Mayos appeal the circuit court's constitutionality rulings. The Fund argues that the circuit court erred when it found Wis. Stat. § 893.55 unconstitutional as it applied to the Mayos. The Mayos argue that the circuit court erred when it determined that § 893.55 was not unconstitutional on its face. Each disputes the other's arguments.

[574]*574DISCUSSION

¶ 9. The Mayos contend that Wis. Stat. § 893.55 is facially unconstitutional because it violates the equal protection rights of catastrophically injured patients. Specifically, they contend that there is no rational basis linking the amount of the current noneco-nomic damages cap to the legislature's articulated purposes for enacting the cap. We agree.

Standard of Review

¶ 10. Whether a statute is constitutional presents a question of law that we review de novo. See State v. Cole, 2003 WI 112, ¶ 10, 264 Wis. 2d 520, 665 N.W.2d 328. A statute's constitutionality may be challenged "as applied" or "facial[ly]." Olson v. Town of Cottage Grove, 2008 WI 51, ¶ 44 n.9, 309 Wis. 2d 365, 749 N.W.2d 211. A " '[facial challenge' " is " '[a] claim that a statute is unconstitutional on its face—that is, that it always operates unconstitutionally.' " Id. (citation omitted).

¶ 11.

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Bluebook (online)
2017 WI App 52, 901 N.W.2d 782, 377 Wis. 2d 566, 2017 WL 2874614, 2017 Wisc. App. LEXIS 494, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mayo-v-wisconsin-injured-patients-families-compensation-fund-wisctapp-2017.