Navigating a medical malpractice lawsuit is an intricate process within the realm of personal injury claims.
To establish your case, you and your attorney must demonstrate that the medical professional responsible for your injuries deviated from the accepted standard of care. This necessitates thoroughly examining your medical records to uncover evidence of inadequate treatment.
Typically, your medical malpractice attorney will engage with a medical expert, often a practitioner within the same specialty as your healthcare provider, to obtain an informed opinion on the applicable standard of care in your situation.
Drawing on this expert’s insights, your attorney can construct a compelling argument detailing how your provider’s actions fell short of the established standard and, consequently, caused harm to you.
Suppose you or a loved one recently suffered injuries due to a medical malpractice incident. In that case, you need an experienced medical malpractice attorney on your side to navigate your case. For many reasons, these types of personal injury claims often settle out of court.
Do Most Medical Malpractice Cases Settle?
Just like all personal injury cases, a victim can resolve a medical malpractice case through a negotiated settlement outside of court or litigated inside a courtroom. More medical malpractice cases go to trial than car accidents or slip and fall cases. Even still, the overwhelming majority of medical malpractice cases do settle.
Over 90 percent of medical malpractice cases reach a settlement outside the courtroom within two years of filing the claim. Resolution often comes through mediation, negotiations, or settlement conferences, resulting in an agreed-upon compensation amount for the plaintiff.
This starkly contrasts with the sensationalized portrayals on television, where courtroom dramas typically unfold with intense arguments. Only a mere seven percent of medical malpractice cases conclude with a jury verdict.
The inclination towards settlement is the preference of most insurance companies to avoid protracted and intricate trial proceedings that can expose them to more significant judgments.
Similarly, patients often seek a swift resolution to obtain compensation promptly, steering clear of a lengthy legal process that can zap their energy over an extended period while trying to heal and move on with their lives.
Settling outside of court can give all parties more control over the outcome and save time and money.
Settlement negotiations begin when the doctor’s medical malpractice insurance company becomes aware of your lawsuit. In the mediation phase, the insurance company may present a settlement offer.
As the plaintiff (the injured party filing the claim), you have the right to either accept or reject this offer; the decision to settle before trial is entirely voluntary on your part.
Given the unique circumstances of each malpractice case, determining whether to accept or reject the initial settlement depends on various factors. Your medical malpractice attorney will provide guidance to ensure you make the best decision to secure the compensation you deserve.
If you don’t believe the settlement the insurance company offers represents the full and fair extent of your damages, you can choose to litigate your claim.
Before both parties reach a final settlement, the doctor or healthcare provider facing the lawsuit (defendant) must grant approval, a step that can be challenging depending on the specifics of the case.
The Legal Elements of Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice claims generally involve establishing four elements of negligence or legal requirements.
These elements include:
- A legal duty of the doctor or other healthcare provider to give care or treatment to the patient
- A breach of this duty due to their failure to follow the standards of care for their profession
- The breach of duty caused a patient to suffer an injury
- The patient has damages resulting from the injury
You must prove all four of these elements to have a successful medical malpractice claim. An experienced medical malpractice attorney knows how to identify and establish a viable claim.
In a civilized society, each person owes a duty of care to others. In a medical setting, the professionals caring for patients owe them a professional duty of care that aligns with the profession’s standards.
The standard of care generally means care that a reasonable, similarly situated professional should have given to the patient under the same or similar circumstances.
Breaching that duty can come in the form of action or inaction. However, a breach of duty alone doesn’t mean medical malpractice occurred.
The breach must cause harm or injury to the patient. The patient’s medical malpractice lawyer must show that there is a direct relationship between the medical professional’s breach of duty and their injury. They must also prove that the patient’s injury resulted in compensable damages.
Types of Medical Malpractice
Negligence on the part of doctors and healthcare professionals can lead to severe repercussions.
Some individuals may grapple with the enduring consequences and injuries throughout their lives, while others may tragically lose their lives due to such negligence. Medical malpractice manifests in various ways, including the following:
Misdiagnosis
Many malpractice cases fall under the category of misdiagnosis. The physician examines the patient but doesn’t diagnose the correct condition or illness.
The physician may incorrectly say the patient has no discernible medical problems or may diagnose the patient with a condition they don’t have.
Misdiagnosis is malpractice as it prevents the patient from receiving the appropriate and necessary treatment. For example, a patient was diagnosed with a benign tumor when it was cancerous and didn’t get the cancer treatment they needed.
On the other hand, healthy patients who get incorrect diagnoses receive treatment they don’t need—for instance, a patient undergoing surgery to amputate a limb due to a misdiagnosis of cancer.
You need to remember that not all incorrect diagnoses are acts of malpractice. It’s only malpractice if the physician fails to do what other physicians should do under similar circumstances, and the patient suffers an injury because of the failure.
If you’re unsure if you or someone you love has experienced medical malpractice, seek the advice of a knowledgeable medical malpractice lawyer.
Delayed Diagnosis
Delayed diagnosis closely resembles misdiagnosis. Initially, the physician provides an inaccurate diagnosis, but the patient eventually receives the correct one. However, due to the delay, the condition worsened as the necessary treatment didn’t initially take place.
In instances of delayed diagnosis, the physician’s assessment is deemed less competent than what other physicians might have employed. This can involve the omission of a crucial test that would have led to an accurate diagnosis or a failure to recognize disease indicators in X-rays, CT scans, or other diagnostic tests.
Failure to Treat
A physician might provide the proper diagnosis but fail to advise suitable treatment. This is an act of medical malpractice known as failure to treat.
A failure to treat action can happen when physicians treat too many patients at once. In other words, they are putting profits over safety. When they get too busy and overwhelmed, physicians aren’t careful about treating all patients with the standard of care they should.
Sometimes, they send a patient home too soon, don’t offer follow-up care, or don’t refer the patient to a specialist for care when necessary.
Surgical Errors
Surgical errors often substantially impact the patient’s quality of life. It’s a misconception that because the patient signed a consent form accepting the risks of complications or even death, they are unable to file a claim for their injuries.
Suppose a physician informs the patient that they can die during a foot surgery. In that case, it doesn’t mean that it’s excusable for medical staff to administer the wrong amount of anesthesia, causing fatal injuries or performing the wrong surgery, leading to the patient’s death.
Examples of medical malpractice surgical errors include:
- Performing unnecessary surgery
- Performing the wrong procedure
- Delivering insufficient care after surgery
- Administering an incorrect amount of anesthesia
- Using non-sterile surgical equipment and instruments
- Damaging nerves, tissues, or organs during an operation
- Leaving medical equipment such as sponges or tools inside the patient
Birth Injuries
Birth injuries often represent the most devastating forms of medical malpractice. Expectant parents carefully plan and prepare for the arrival of their baby, discussing names and imagining their child’s appearance and personality.
However, they can’t anticipate the unforeseen consequences of a birth injury resulting from their healthcare provider’s negligence. Tragically, such injuries may even lead to fatal consequences for the baby or the mother.
Instances of birth injury malpractice can manifest in various ways. In some cases, prenatal care provided by the obstetrician may be insufficient despite the mother actively seeking and complying with care to ensure the well-being of herself and her unborn baby.
Negligence from healthcare providers during childbirth itself can also result in injuries to either the mother or the baby.
When such injuries are preventable, it is likely a case of medical malpractice. The aftermath of birth injuries often necessitates a lifetime of medical care, incurring costs that can amount to several million dollars over the newborn’s life.
While these scenarios represent common occurrences in medical malpractice, numerous other instances exist. If you suspect that your doctor’s negligence caused your injuries, you may have a valid legal claim.
Compensation in Medical Malpractice Cases
The conclusive factor in establishing a medical malpractice case is the aspect of damages. Damages serve as the monetary representation of the losses, alterations, and inconveniences endured by the patient due to their injuries.
The primary objective of initiating a medical malpractice claim is to seek compensation for these damages, covering both economic and non-economic losses.
Economic Damages
Quantifying economic damages is typically straightforward, involving calculations for medical expenses, lost income, and other direct costs arising from the injury. In many states, there is no statutory limit on the amount of economic damages a patient can receive.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages refer to intangible losses, posing a challenge in valuation and often sparking disputes between the patient and the medical provider’s insurance company.
Unlike economic damages, which you can tabulate with medical bills and receipts, non-economic damages are more subjective and include elements such as:
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium
- Mental anguish
- Scarring
- Disfigurement
- The loss of bodily functions or body parts
Determining the worth of these damages is a complex process, and a proficient medical malpractice attorney can assist in their calculation.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages, a less common type of monetary award, serve a distinct purpose. Unlike compensatory damages that aim to reimburse the victim, punitive damages deter and penalize egregious behavior by the at-fault party.
Courts reserve these damages for cases involving shocking conduct, willful misconduct, fraud, wantonness, or conscious indifference to consequences. If you believe your case may warrant punitive damages, it is crucial to promptly consult with a skilled lawyer following your injury.
Damage Caps in Medical Malpractice Cases
Many states have a mandated limit on the amount of compensation an injured party can receive in a medical malpractice case. In the past, some medical malpractice claimants received significant damages, causing insurance rates for clinicians to increase and some people to file frivolous lawsuits.
Insurance companies claim that limiting the amount of compensation in a medical malpractice case helps control frivolous lawsuits and keeps premiums low.
However, damage caps highlight how powerful healthcare establishments and their insurers enjoy protection from paying significant awards for damages. It doesn’t matter if victims and families suffer the most shocking harm or if juries determine that they deserve more.
With these caps, the fight for full and fair compensation is all the more crucial. You need to work with medical malpractice attorneys who can use their resources and experience to recover the maximum compensation possible for economic damages, including both past and future damages.
Are You the Victim of Medical Malpractice? Contact a Seasoned Attorney Today
Matthew D. Glenn, Medical Malpractice Attorney
If you believe you suffered injuries in a medical malpractice event, it’s in your best interest to talk to a seasoned personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. Protect and secure your rights by hiring a lawyer today. Consultations are free, and an experienced medical malpractice lawyer can advise you of your legal options.