Health care litigation: recent trends in the law of noneconomic damages--emotional distress.

This article and an article to follow, the sixth and seventh in a series, will address the topic of noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases. Pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of consortium, loss of a chance, hedonic damages, and other forms of nonpecuniary damages have played a major role in the increased recovery of compensatory damages from health care providers. This article will provide an overview of the subject of noneconomic damages and an in-depth discussion of the law regarding damages for emotional distress to third parties as it has evolved in the State of California.