The Biggest "Myths" About Malpractice Litigation Might Be True

Understanding Your Rights to Medical Malpractice Compensation in New York

Medical malpractice can cause a number of losses including medical bills that are expensive, lost wages and non-economic losses like pain and suffering. A knowledgeable New York attorney can help you know your rights to compensation.

First consider if your injuries were caused by an error in medical care. Then you can proceed with a malpractice lawsuit.

Medical expenses

The expense of medical treatment to treat injuries is the most obvious. This category of damages is subject to limitations set by law of the state which is determined in the liability insurance policy of a health provider. Certain states have also created injured patient compensation funds in order to reduce the perceived cost of litigation and to help health care providers cut their liability insurance premiums.

In addition to medical expenses Victims are also entitled to compensation for other expenses due to negligence. These are referred to as economic or special damages. They cover the cost of any medical treatments (past and future) that are necessary to address the injury resulting from the negligence, as well the loss of income due to being unable to work because of the injury.

In medical malpractice cases, pain and damages are also typical. This type of compensation is subjective and could vary greatly between different plaintiffs. It covers any physical or emotional pain as well as other physical effects associated with the negligence. For instance, a plaintiff could be paid for a mistake by a doctor that caused her to miss an important cancer screening appointment.

In some cases the punitive damages may be awarded. They are meant to penalize a physician for particularly egregious behavior, for example, leaving a sponge in the body of a patient after surgery.

Suffering and pain

In medical malpractice cases there is pain and suffering as a form of non-economic damages. The damages are based on the mental and physical trauma a victim suffered as a result of a medical professional's negligence. The symptoms could be mild like anxiety or discomfort, or they can be major such as loss of enjoyment in life, depression, embarrassment and anxiety.

It's hard to determine the value of pain and suffering, so jury instructions usually leave the decision to jurors to make use of their own judgment knowledge, background, and experience in determining what they think is reasonable and fair. Therefore, the amount given in malpractice cases can vary greatly.

A medical malpractice lawyer can assist you in proving the severity of your suffering by using evidence that is tangible. Photographs, X-rays and X-rays as well as home movies, models, diagrams, and sketches can help a jury understand the extent of your injuries and how they impact your daily routine.

If a doctor's negligence caused the death of a victim, family members can seek damages through the wrongful death lawsuit or through survival statutes. In the case of wrongful death, malpractice lawsuit laws generally allow a deceased victim's spouse and children to recover the same type of compensation that they would have received if the patient had survived. In most cases, however the total amount of damages the victim is allowed to receive is determined by the state's damage caps for suffering and pain. This is why it's important to have a knowledgeable medical malpractice attorney on your side to ensure you receive the compensation you deserve.

Lost wages

You can recover your lost wages in the event that you miss work because of medical malpractice. This includes your base salary bonus, commissions, bonuses and employment benefits. It also includes any pay increases or increases in pay. Your attorney will review past pay stubs to calculate your income before the injury. Then, subtract the missed work from that amount to determine your total lost wages. Your lawyer can help you calculate your future loss of income by using a present value calculation. This is an analysis of your finances that analyzes the consequences of your injuries in the future on your ability to earn money. It's usually performed by a professional hired by your attorney.

In addition to compensating for your economic losses, you can get non-economic compensation for pain and suffering caused by the malpractice attorneys incident. The jury will determine the amount of compensation that is appropriate that can differ from case to case. Certain states limit these damages. However they have been ruled unconstitutional by many courts.

Seven-figure settlements are typically associated with serious permanent injuries or wrongful deaths resulting from extreme healthcare neglect. For example, surgical mistakes leading to amputations, obstetric errors leading to the brain of an infant and death, and anesthesia errors causing comas might all command high-value settlements. Punitive damages, which are designed to punish bad behavior, may also be available in certain instances.

Damages to future medical treatment

In a medical malpractice lawsuit, there are two types of damages a plaintiff can seek: economic and non-economic damages. The first is based on quantifiable financial losses, including past and future medical expenses. The latter are more difficult to quantify, and includes pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. In a medical malpractice lawsuit, the jury will need to hear expert testimony in order to assess these types of losses.

Past medical expenses are relatively easy to prove by submitting actual bills from the injured person's health healthcare providers. The lawyer representing the plaintiff will provide medical evidence to prove the kind of treatment that is likely to be required in the near future, and how much they cost today. The amount of future medical treatment required may be affected by the victim's ages at the time of the incident.

Proving damages for future lost wages is feasible by proving how the injury has affected the patient's earning capacity and ability to work. This can be proven by expert witness testimony or by looking at similar cases in the preceding.

Pain and suffering is a wider category of damages that encompasses the physical and emotional pain and stress that a patient suffers due to medical malpractice. This type of damages is generally based on testimony from the victim and other witnesses and other evidence like videos, photographs and written reports.