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For more than two decades, Maryland has maintained a relatively stable medical liability environment. That stability did not happen by accident, and recent activity in Annapolis and neighboring Virginia is an important reminder that it cannot be taken for granted.
The 2026 General Assembly session brought several efforts to change significant pieces of Maryland tort law. While none directly repealed Maryland’s medical malpractice cap, taken together, they demonstrate why physicians need to remain engaged and why MedChi must be prepared well before legislators return to Annapolis in January.
The Pressure We Saw Last Session
Maryland’s cap on noneconomic damages has been an important part of our medical liability system since the reforms that followed the liability crisis of the early 2000s. The cap does not limit recovery of economic damages such as medical expenses and lost wages. It places a predictable limit on noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering.
During the 2026 session, HB 476 and SB 474 proposed eliminating Maryland’s cap on noneconomic damages in general personal injury and wrongful death cases. The bills specifically excluded medical malpractice cases.
However, eliminating the general tort cap would have created a significant disparity between medical liability cases and other civil actions while also establishing a precedent for removing limits on noneconomic damages. HB 476 was ultimately referred to interim study. (Maryland General Assembly)
We also saw HB 906 and SB 871, which proposed allowing punitive damages in negligence cases based on a newly defined gross-negligence standard. (Maryland General Assembly)
And during the interim, legislators are examining another major piece of Maryland tort law: whether Maryland should move from contributory negligence toward comparative negligence.
Each of these proposals should be considered individually; people can disagree about them. But together, they show renewed legislative interest in changing longstanding elements of Maryland’s civil liability system.
Virginia Should Get Our Attention
Maryland is not alone. What happened in Virginia during its 2026 legislative session should be particularly instructive for physicians here.
Virginia has its own longstanding medical malpractice cap, currently $2.75 million. During the 2026 session, Senate Bill 536 began as a more limited medical liability proposal but was transformed during the legislative process into legislation that would have raised the cap to $6 million. The proposal advanced through the House amid intense negotiations involving the Medical Society of Virginia, hospitals, trial lawyers, and other stakeholders. (MSV)
Virginia physicians ultimately avoided that immediate increase. The legislation that became law instead requires extensive reporting on malpractice premiums, claims, verdicts, insurer finances, and other data specifically intended to inform future consideration of the medical malpractice cap. (Virginia Legislative Information System)
But the issue is hardly over. Another Virginia proposal that would remove the cap for certain claims involving young children was carried over for consideration in 2027. (MSV)
That experience demonstrates that the pressure on medical liability protections is not limited to Maryland. It is occurring around the region, and proposals that once might have seemed unlikely can move very quickly.
We Are Also Losing an Important Advocate
The legislative landscape in Maryland is changing as well.
Senator Pam Beidle has announced that she will leave the Senate after 20 years in the General Assembly. As Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Beidle has been an important voice on health care, insurance, and tort issues. (Maryland Matters)
For MedChi and Maryland physicians, her departure matters. Senator Beidle understood the history of Maryland’s medical liability crisis and the connection between liability policy, insurance costs, physician recruitment and retention, and access to care.
We are grateful for her years of leadership, but her retirement also means losing an experienced advocate at a time when these issues are returning to the legislative agenda.
We Need to Be Ready
MedChi cannot wait until a bill hearing is scheduled next February to begin making the case for a stable medical liability environment.
We need to educate legislators about why Maryland adopted its medical liability reforms, how the current system works, and what changes in liability costs can mean for independent practices, high-risk specialties, physician recruitment, and care access.
Physicians themselves also need to be part of that discussion. There is no substitute for a legislator hearing directly from a physician about how these policies affect medical practice and patients.
MedChi will continue working with legislators from both parties and with stakeholders throughout the health care community. These are legitimate policy debates, but they must take into account the consequences for Maryland’s health care system.
Last session was a warning. Virginia showed us that the pressure extends well beyond Maryland; Senator Beidle’s retirement reminds us that some of the experienced legislators who understand the history of these issues will no longer be there.
We need to be prepared.
Gene M. Ransom III
CEO
MedChi, The Maryland State Medical Society
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