Please cite cases where anything close to these amounts have been paid. The average payout where malpractice is proven is about $28,000. Many states that have enacted caps have seen their malpractice premiums increase up to 90%. This is driven not by payouts, but by the fortunes of the insurance companies. They made up for bad investment decisions by hitting the doctors with huge premium increases. All the while, aided by the media and outrageous stories of the odd "frivolous" case, the public buys into the myth of courts clogged with people suing for a $1 billion payout for a splinter. The industry then gets the doctors to do their dirty work for them. There is no malpractice crisis, there is a malpractice premium crisis.