What Is The Typical Settlement For A Medical Malpractice Case?

May 12

Approximately $348,065 was paid out to plaintiffs in medical malpractice lawsuits in 2018, according to the National Practitioner Data Bank's Medical Malpractice Report. Most of the payouts came via settlements, with only 3.5 percent coming from court judgments.

Complaints In Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

According to the study, 34.1 percent of medical malpractice claims were based on medical errors relating to diagnosis, making it the most common allegation. Surgical misconduct accounted for 21.4 percent of all claims, while improper therapeutic malpractice accounted for 21.1 percent of all claims.

Medical malpractice lawsuits are most frequently caused by surgical and treatment-related mistakes and misdiagnoses, according to a prior study of medical malpractice rates in the United States.

One in every three claims resulted in a lifelong disability, such as quadriplegia or brain damage, while one in every eighteen claims had serious, life-altering injuries, and one in every thirty-seven claims ended in death. It's also worth noting, though, the average rewards for claims that ended fatally were lower than those for claims that resulted in brain damage, which could total up to $960,000.

My Medical Malpractice Claim Is Worth, But How Much?

How much money would I be entitled to if I believe I have a strong case?

Lawyers frequently classify damages in the following ways:

Compensation for economic or non-economic damages is based on the quantifiable value of the damages
For example, non-economic, general, or pain-and-suffering losses are not always easy to calculate.

Punitive damages may be available to patients if the doctor's acts were malicious or deliberate, or if the doctor knew or should have known that their actions would cause injury.

Damages can only be granted where there is proof of actual malpractice, such as:

The doctor's recklessness is to blame for your losses.
Because of the misconduct, there are no alternative possibilities for settling the damages that were inflicted.

Calculating Damages for Your Particular Case The following are some of the injuries you suffered prior to the malpractice incident:

Profits which have been forfeited.
The expense of health care.
Earning potential is reduced.
Other losses that can be quantified.

Expenditures for medical treatment include both the costs you've already incurred as a result of your injuries and those you may incur in the future due to illness or injury. In negligence cases, future medical costs are typical.

The terms "loss earnings" and "lost earning power" relate to the money you have lost or may lose as a result of the negligence that caused your injury. This includes paid time off, health insurance, and pension contributions, among other things, for those who are unable to work due to illness or injury. The amount of money you've lost in the past is easy to calculate since you just add up all of the wages and benefits you've missed because of your illness.

It will be more difficult, though, to estimate your lost income and earning potential. Consequently, your lawyer will require the help of a financial specialist to explain these facts in the proper context. Suppose you were making $50,000 a year before the medical misconduct occurred. It took a long time for you to fully recover, so you can only work part-time now and earn $25,000 a year.

This means that you may expect to lose $25,000 a year in earnings potential for the remainder of your working life. It is a formula based on official statistics that estimates how long a person will continue to work depending on factors such as age, race, and gender. Calculating how much $25,000 a year will be worth in the future is more complicated than it appears.

Obtaining Accurate Information Regarding Your Overall Losses

Pain, suffering, and other damages are difficult to put a dollar value on, as we've already shown. Because your injuries have left you in agony and suffering, the jury cannot merely rely on a chart to determine how much pain and suffering you have undergone (or continue to bear). This is why courts frequently instruct jurors to put themselves in the shoes of the injured party when assessing pain and suffering damages.

Pain and suffering damages encompass both emotional and physical pain and suffering, such as:

The pain you're going through as a result of your bodily injuries.
As a result of a long-term injury, disability, deformity, or scars, you're experiencing misery and suffering.
Anguish, fury, anxiety, guilt and loss of enjoyment in life are all instances of mental suffering. Sleep problems may also be a symptom.
Consortium or partnership is gone.

Some manifestations of mental agony include severe depression, mood swings and violent wrath; chronic weariness; food problems; sleep irregularities; sexual dysfunction; and post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Don't dismiss the importance of intangible damages in medical malpractice settlements or judgments. In order to properly explain your losses to the insurance company, tell your lawyer everything about your injury.

Acquiring The Help Of A Medical Malpractice Lawyer

A medical malpractice lawsuit would require the aid of an expert medical malpractice lawyer in order to explain why and how the misbehavior occurred. Recall that the quality of care and whether or whether the doctor's actions caused the patient's injuries are two factors in all malpractice lawsuits.

A similar test can be used to determine whether or not the doctor's actions were negligent: given comparable or identical circumstances, would another physician have taken the same course of action as the physician?

Learn more about your case and the possible benefits of a settlement by consulting a knowledgeable medical malpractice attorney. You have a right to compensation from doctors who have harmed you, so don't forget about it.