SPRINGFIELD - Illinois lawmakers passed a measure that lets jurors consider the grief and sorrow of survivors when deciding payouts in wrongful death lawsuits - a move that promises to reopen political wounds from the state's medical malpractice battle of two years ago.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, hasn't said whether he will sign the bill, which passed the Senate on Thursday 31-23.

Illinois now allows jurors to consider several factors when deciding how much to award plaintiffs who prevail in wrongful death suits. Factors include actual damages such as loss of income, as well as "noneconomic" damages such as the loss of love, comfort and other intangibles by the survivor-plaintiffs.

The new legislation would add heartache to that list of intangibles, allowing jurors to consider "damages for grief, sorrow, and mental suffering, to the surviving spouse and next of kin of such deceased person."

That language, the result of a lobbying effort by Illinois trial lawyers, reopens a fractious debate over what doctors and hospitals should have to pay when their patients are maimed or killed. In 2005, Illinois capped the amount that plaintiffs could collect for noneconomic damages in malpractice cases to $500,000 per doctor and $1 million per hospital.

That change in the law which was fiercely opposed by trial lawyers and is now being challenged in court was prompted by alleged doctor shortages in the Metro East and Southern Illinois.

Proponents of the new legislation point out that it doesn't change the current caps on noneconomic damages but rather opens up a new avenue to pursue those damages.

"We're very glad the General Assembly has decided to join other states in fairly compensating people for grief and sorrow," said Judy Cates, a Swansea attorney and president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association. "It's about time."

Opponents say the change could prompt juries to go right up to the top award limits in more cases - and could lead to a rash of astronomical awards if those limits are eventually removed by the courts.

"Current law already provides for proper recovery in wrongful death cases," said Dr. Rodney Osborn, a Peoria anesthesiologist and president of the Illinois State Medical Society. "This legislation is clearly a disguised grab for cash by the plaintiff lawyers."

Supporters of the legislation say that allowing compensation for the grief of survivors is different from the current allowable compensation for the loss of love and comfort. Critics say there is no difference, and that the legislation would allow juries to double-count emotional impact when determining the amount to award to plaintiffs.

The lingering bitterness of the statewide policy battle of two years ago was evident in Senate floor debate Thursday.

"I guess many of you feel some type of payback is necessary to the trial lawyers, since we had to do something (in 2005) to keep physicians from leaving Illinois," said state Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale. "This is a bad bill … it allows for double-recovery. … (It) will leave access to medical care, especially in rural Illinois, floundering in the wind again."

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, countered that grief is a legitimate factor in deciding jury awards. "If a drunk driver runs over your child, you want to be able to talk about the grief and sorrow and mental anguish" in the civil suit, Raoul said.

Thursday's Senate vote - like the earlier House passage of the bill - was mostly along party lines, with majority Democrats generally in favor of it.

Among exceptions have been a few downstate Democrats who either opposed the bill or abstained from the vote.

"I was being pulled both ways, so I just didn't vote on it," said state Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton.

Blagojevich, who is also an attorney who has been closely allied with trial attorneys' organizations, hasn't decided whether to sign the legislation, a spokesman said Thursday. Blagojevich was a reluctant signer of the litigation caps measure in 2005, saying at the time that he personally opposed the concept of caps.

The bill now on his desk is HB1798.

Kevin McDermott can be reached at kmcdermott@post-dispatch.com or 782-4912. Adam Jadhav of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed to this report.