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Family keeping up fight against Indiana malpractice cap

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) – An Evansville couple is keeping up a decade-long legal fight over claims of medical malpractice in their daughter’s birth that left her a quadriplegic and unable to speak.

A Vanderburgh County jury in 2013 awarded $15 million in damages to Crystal and Jamie Bobbitt in their lawsuit against a doctor and St. Mary’s Medical Center. They’ve not received any of that money and their attorneys are challenging the constitutionality of the state’s $1.25 million malpractice damages cap.

Crystal Bobbitt tells the Evansville Courier & Press  that she’s frustrated with the court delays. An expert hired for their trial estimated lifetime care for 12-year-old Juliann Bobbitt will cost at least $8 million.

Attorneys for the state are defending the malpractice limit. A Vanderburgh County judge is considering the case.