It is rare, but occasionally someone seeking treatment for an illness or injury ends up worse off because a mistake was made by a health care provider.

At that point the situation often moves from the health care system to the legal system. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Negligent or incompentent doctors and health care facilities need to be held accountable, and a medical malpractice lawsuit is one way to do that.

Holding people and organizations accountable is proper, but should that accountability come at such a high price that a hospital closes or physicians refuse to practice in Iowa? Absolutely not. But the potential for that to happen is there. A massive multi-million award in a malpractice case could shut down a small hospital in a rural part of the state. And it could cause doctors to decide they are not going to work in Iowa.

State Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, introduced a measure to help prevent such a situation by placing what we believe are reasonable limits on some kinds of damages that can be awarded in malpractice cases. Gov. Kim Reynolds signed it into law Thursday.

There are three categories of damages that can be awarded as a result of a successful medical malpractice lawsuit: non-economic, economic and punitive. The new law puts caps on just one of those categories: non-economic damages that are sometimes called payments for pain and suffering.

The law places a $1 million cap on non-economic damages if the malpractice occurred in a doctor’s office, clinic or outpatient surgery center. The law places a $2 million cap on such payments if the malpractice occurred at a hospital.

Left untouched by the new law are payments for economic damages, which Meyer succinctly described as “anything you can put a receipt on.” That includes medical bills, lost income, future lost income and even accessibility related renovations to a home if the malpractice left someone disabled. Those payments would remain unlimited.

Also left untouched by the new law are punitive damages, which will also remain unlimited. Additionally, the plaintiffs will get all of those payments while in the past 75 percent of those damages went to a state trust fund.

Because of this new law, plaintiffs who win medical malpractice lawsuits will be able to get all of their medical bills paid, recover any lost income, collect any punitive damages that are awarded, plus collect up to $2 million.

Is that enough to pay for the loss of a limb or a life? We believe it is impossible to place a dollar figure on such a loss.

We do believe that the law written by Rep. Meyer enables victims of medical malpractice to collect significant damage awards while at the same time providing some level of stability to health care providers and their insurers. Remember that if big lawsuit payouts shutter hospitals and drive doctors away from the state, it will be harder and harder for anyone to get care. Therefore we believe this a sound and reasonable law.