Texas Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Damages Cap Calculator

Calculating Texas Health Care Wrongful Death Damages

We built this calculator to give individuals and attorneys a statutorily correct source for determining the wrongful death damages cap in Texas medical malpractice claims, a figure that is critical to case valuation, demand strategy, and client counseling. The tool most commonly used for this calculation, the BLS Inflation Calculator at bls.gov, uses a consumer price index that does not match the one specified in the Texas statute. The result is an inaccurate figure that individuals may be relying on without realizing the discrepancy.

Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 74.303 caps damages in wrongful death and survival actions arising from health care liability claims at $500,000 per claimant. This cap covers all damages, including exemplary damages, regardless of the number of defendants or causes of action. The statute requires this base amount to be adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, measured from August 29, 1977, the effective date of the original Medical Liability Act.

Section 74.303(b) specifically identifies the applicable index as the one measuring price changes for “urban wage earners and clerical workers’ families and single workers living alone (CPI-W: Seasonally Adjusted U.S. City Average: All Items).” The BLS Inflation Calculator noted above uses the CPI-U (All Urban Consumers) index instead. These two indexes track different population groups and produce different values.

Our calculator utilizes CPI-W Seasonally Adjusted data directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, exactly as written into law by the Texas Legislature, to produce the inflation-adjusted cap. The final calculation displays the CPI values used, the exact formula applied, and the BLS data source so the result can be independently verified. The tool defaults to the most recently published CPI data and allows adjustment to any month within the last ten years, consistent with the Texas statute of repose for health care liability claims under Section 74.251.