Economic damages: the documented, countable losses
Economic damages are the straightforward, receipt-backed part of a claim. In a Pennsylvania personal injury case, 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.
Non-economic damages: the subjective losses
Non-economic damages cover the losses that don't come with a receipt: pain, suffering, and similar nonpecuniary harm. These are inherently harder to quantify, which is exactly why the multiplier method exists — to translate a documented economic figure into a reasoned estimate of the non-economic side.
A distinctive six-category breakdown for malpractice
In a Pennsylvania medical malpractice case, the MCARE Act requires the jury to separately enumerate a specific dollar amount for six distinct categories, rather than rendering a single lump-sum verdict: past medical expenses, future medical expenses, past lost earnings, future lost earnings, past noneconomic damages, and future noneconomic damages. Future medical expenses must also be specified year by year.
Itemization without a limit
This itemization requirement changes how a jury reports its findings, not what it can award. None of the six categories carries a dollar cap — future noneconomic damages are not even reduced to present value the way future economic damages are, since Pennsylvania law recognizes that pain and suffering awards don't lend themselves to the same financial discounting.
Punitive damages sit outside this structure
Punitive damages are a separate category entirely from the six compensatory categories above. Unlike those six, punitive damages against an individual physician in a Pennsylvania malpractice case are capped at 200% of the compensatory damages award under the MCARE Act, with 25% of any punitive award required to go to the MCARE Fund.