Understanding Your Rights to Medical Malpractice Compensation in New York
Medical malpractice can result in various losses, such as expensive medical care, lost income and non-economic damages like suffering and pain. A reputable New York attorney can help you know your rights to compensation.
First check if the injuries were caused by an error made by a medical professional. The next step is to start a lawsuit for malpractice.
Medical expenses
The most obvious cost associated with malpractice is that of medical care required to treat the resultant injuries. This category of damages has a cap set by law of the state that is established in the liability insurance policy of a health provider. Some states also set up injured patients compensation funds to reduce the perceived costs of litigation and to lower the cost of liability insurance for providers.
Victims can claim compensation in addition to medical expenses in the event that negligence is found to be the cause. These are known as economic or special damages. They cover the cost of any medical treatments (past and in the future) that are required to address the injury resulting from the
malpractice lawyer, as the loss of income because of being unable to work due to the injury.
Damages for pain and suffering are also common in medical malpractice cases. The amount of damages for pain and suffering is subjective and could vary widely between claimants. It includes any emotional or physical discomfort, and other non-physical effects associated with the mistake. A plaintiff, for instance could be compensated if an error by a doctor that caused her not to attend a vital cancer screening.
In some cases punitive damages can be granted. These are designed to punish the doctor for egregious behavior, like leaving a dirty sponge in the patient's body following surgery.
Suffering and pain
In medical malpractice cases it is a matter of pain and suffering. It is an example of non-economic damages. The damages cover the physical and mental trauma that the victim endured because of the negligence of a doctor. The symptoms may be minor such as anxiety or discomfort or severe symptoms, such as loss of enjoyment of life, depression, embarrassment, fear, and sleep problems.
As it's hard to put a value on the amount of pain and suffering the jury instructions usually leave it to the jurors. They can use their judgment, knowledge and experience to decide what they consider fair and reasonable. The amount of compensation awarded in malpractice
lawsuits vary greatly.
Your medical malpractice attorney can help you demonstrate the extent of your suffering through evidence that can be used to prove your case. Photos, X-rays, models, home movies, diagrams and drawings can all help a jury see the severity of your injuries as well as how they impact your daily routine.
If a physician's mistake resulted in the death of a patient's family members, the heirs may recover damages through survival statutes, or wrongful death lawsuits. The law governing wrongful death allows the spouse and children of a victim killed to receive the same compensation they would have received if the patient survived. Typically, however, the amount an individual victim receives is restricted by a state's damage caps for pain and suffering. This is why it's crucial to have a skilled medical malpractice attorney on your side to fight for the amount of compensation you're entitled to.
Loss of wages
You may be able to recover lost wages if you are unable to work due to medical error. This amount includes your base pay commissions, bonuses, employment benefits, pay increases, and retirement fund contributions. Your attorney will examine your past pay stubs to calculate your earnings per hour prior to your injury, and then subtract the lost work to calculate the total loss of earnings. Your attorney can help you determine the loss you will incur in the future income by using a current value calculation. This is a complicated financial analysis that examines the effects of your injuries on your capacity to work in the future, and it is usually performed by a specialist hired by your attorney.
You can also recover non-economic damages, such as suffering and pain caused by the error. The jury will determine the appropriate amount of compensation which varies from case to case. Some states cap these damages. However, they have been declared inconstitutional by a number of courts.
Settlements of seven figures are generally caused by serious permanent injuries or wrongful death caused by severe healthcare negligence. Settlements with high value may be granted for among other things, surgical errors that cause amputations or brain injury to infants and mothers as well as anesthesia mistakes that lead to comas. In certain circumstances, punitive damages may be available to punish the bad behavior.
Damages that could be incurred for future medical care
In a medical malpractice lawsuit there are two types of damages that a plaintiff may seek: economic and non-economic damages. The first is based on measurable losses such as future or past medical expenses. The latter is more difficult to quantify and includes suffering and pain as well as loss of enjoyment of life. In a medical negligence case the jury is required to hear expert testimony to assess these types losses.
Past medical expenses are relatively easy to prove by providing actual invoices from the injured person's health care providers. For future expenses, the plaintiff's lawyer will submit medical evidence to show what treatment is likely to be required in the future and how much the treatments cost currently. The amount of medical treatments required could be affected by the victim's ages when they were injured.
The ability to prove damages for future lost wages is possible by demonstrating how the injury affected the patient's ability to earn and ability to work. This could be substantiated by expert testimony or examining similar cases in the past.
Pain and suffering is a umbrella term that refers to the physical and mental discomfort and distress that patients suffer as a result of medical malpractice. The type of damages are typically based on testimony from the victim and other witnesses, as well as evidence like photographs, videotapes and written reports.