Activist Ralph Nader urged Governor Jerry Brown to raise or abolish the cap on monetary damages awarded to patients in cases of medical malpractice or negligence. According to the Harvard Medical Practice Study conducted in 1984, more than 90,000 Americans perish every year due to medical negligence and many more suffer debilitating injuries.  “We have an epidemic of preventable violence in this country in the form of medical malpractice,” Nader said. “[Policy makers] don’t hear the cries of anguish, the sounds of death, injury, prolonged disease…so who speaks for these people?” According to Californians Allied for Patient Protection, a MICRA advocacy group, the law was passed in an attempt to rein in sky-high medical liability insurance costs—driven by suits like these—that were putting doctors and clinics out of business according to a report at www.healthline.com