Special damages: the documented, countable losses
What most states call economic damages, Louisiana calls "special damages" — the straightforward, receipt-backed part of a claim. This generally includes medical expenses already incurred, lost wages from time away from work, property damage, and reasonably anticipated future medical care or lost earning capacity tied directly to the injury.
General damages: the subjective losses
What most states call non-economic damages, Louisiana calls "general damages" — the losses that don't come with a receipt: pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life. These are inherently harder to quantify, which is exactly why the multiplier method exists — to translate a documented special-damages figure into a reasoned estimate of the general-damages side.
Why Louisiana's medical malpractice cap works differently
In most states that cap medical malpractice damages, the cap applies only to the general (non-economic) side, while special damages like medical bills pass through uncapped. Louisiana's Medical Malpractice Act takes a genuinely different approach: the $500,000 cap applies to the combined total of general damages and most special damages together.
The one major carve-out: future medical care
Future medical expenses are the significant exception. They're excluded from the $500,000 cap entirely and paid separately, without any dollar limit, directly by the state's Patient's Compensation Fund as the patient incurs them — for as long as care is needed. This carve-out is what keeps Louisiana's otherwise unusually low cap from leaving catastrophically injured patients without ongoing medical coverage.
Fault treats both categories the same way
Whichever outcome applies under Louisiana's modified comparative fault rule, it doesn't distinguish between general and special damages. If your fault bars the claim, it bars recovery of both categories together; below that threshold, both are reduced by the same proportion.