How this estimate is built
Your medical expenses and lost wages are your economic damages. We apply the multiplier method, the industry-standard approach, to estimate noneconomic damages — then check the result against Ohio's malpractice cap, if it applies, and against the state's 51% fault rule.
The standard 51% bar
Under R.C. 2315.33, a claimant whose fault equals or exceeds the combined fault of everyone else involved recovers nothing at all. Below that threshold, damages are reduced proportionally by the claimant's own percentage of fault.
A two-tier malpractice cap — and one tier is genuinely in dispute
Ohio's medical malpractice noneconomic damages cap under R.C. 2323.43 has two tiers. For non-catastrophic injuries, the cap is the greater of $250,000 or three times economic damages, up to a maximum of $350,000 per plaintiff. For catastrophic injuries — permanent and substantial physical deformity, loss of use of a limb, or loss of a bodily organ system — the cap rises to $500,000 per plaintiff. Economic damages are never capped.
A live split among Ohio's courts right now
The catastrophic-injury tier is currently the subject of a genuine split among Ohio's appellate districts. The Eighth District (Paganini v. Cataract Eye Center of Cleveland) and the Tenth District (Lyon v. Riverside Methodist Hospital) have both ruled the cap unconstitutional as applied to specific plaintiffs, while the Sixth District (McNalley v. Keiser) enforced it, cutting a jury award by roughly 77.6%. The Ohio Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Paganini on February 10, 2026, and a decision remains pending as of this writing — the outcome could resolve which approach governs statewide.