Understanding Your Rights to Medical Malpractice Compensation in New York

Medical malpractice can cause numerous damages, including high-cost medical expenses, loss of income and damages not based on economics, such as suffering and pain. A New York attorney who is skilled can assist you in understanding the rights to compensation you have.

The first step is to determine if you suffered injuries because of a medical error. Then, you can proceed with a malpractice lawsuit.

Medical expenses

The most obvious expense in the context of malpractice is that of medical treatment required to treat the resulting injuries. It's important to understand that this type of damage is capped by law of the state at a specific amount set in the health care provider's liability insurance policy. Some states also set up injured patient compensation funds to offset the cost of litigation and help drive down liability premiums for providers.

Victims are entitled to compensation in addition to medical expenses if the negligence is deemed to be a contributing factor. These are referred to as special or economic damages. They cover the cost of any medical services (past and future) that are necessary to treat the injuries resulting from the negligence, as well the loss of income because of being unable to work because of the injury.

In medical malpractice cases, pain and suffering damages are also typical. The amount of damages for pain and suffering is a bit different for each claimant and is a subjective one. It includes any physical pain, emotional distress and other physical or psychological effects caused by the mistake. For instance the plaintiff may be compensated for a doctor's mistake that caused her to miss a crucial cancer screening appointment.

Additionally, punitive damages are also a possibility in certain situations. These are meant to punish a doctor for particularly egregious behaviour, such as leaving an unclean sponge in the body of a patient after surgery.

Suffering and pain

The pain and suffering category is a type of non-economic damage in medical malpractice attorneys cases. The damages are based on the physical and psychological trauma sufferers suffered as a result of a doctor's negligence. The symptoms can be minor, like discomfort or anxiety or even more severe, such as loss of enjoyment of life or depression, embarrassment or insomnia, and fear.

As it's hard to put a value on the amount of suffering and pain, the jury instructions usually leave it to the jurors. They can use their judgment, background and experience to decide what they believe is fair and reasonable. The amount of compensation awarded in malpractice lawsuits can vary.

Your medical malpractice attorney can help you prove your suffering through demonstrative evidence. Images and Xrays, along with home movies, models and diagrams can help a juror understand the extent of your injuries.

If a negligent doctor caused the death of a victim, beneficiaries can collect damages through the wrongful death suit or statutes. Wrongful death laws typically allow the spouse and children to receive the same types of compensation that they would have received if the patient had survived. In most cases, however the amount a victim receives is limited by the state's damage limits for suffering and pain. It is important to have a seasoned medical malpractice lawyer by your side in order to pursue the compensation you're entitled to.

Lost wages

If you miss work due to medical error you may be able to recover your lost wages. This amount includes your base pay commissions, bonuses and employment benefits, as well as pay raises, and retirement fund contributions. Your attorney will look over your pay stubs from the past to calculate your average earnings prior to your injury. You will after that, subtract your missing work to determine your total lost earnings. Your attorney can assist you to determine your future loss of income through a current value calculation. This is an analysis of finances that looks at the effects of your injuries in the future on your ability to earn money. This is usually done by a professional hired by your attorney.

You may also be able to recover non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering caused by the error. The jury will decide the amount of compensation that is appropriate, which can vary from case to case. Some states have a limit on these damages. However they have been ruled inconstitutional by numerous courts.

Seven-figure settlements typically involve serious permanent injuries or wrongful deaths associated with extreme healthcare neglect. For example, surgical mistakes that result in amputations, obstetric errors leading to the brain of an infant and death, and anesthesia mistakes leading to comas may all warrant high-value settlements. In certain cases there may be punitive damages offered to punish bad behavior.

Damages for future medical care

In a medical malpractice lawsuit there are two kinds of damages a plaintiff can seek: economic and non-economic damages. The first is based on quantifiable losses like past or future medical expenses. The latter are more difficult to quantify, and includes the suffering and pain as well as loss of enjoyment of life. In a medical malpractice lawsuit, the jury will need to hear testimony from experts in order to judge these kinds of losses.

It is relatively easy to prove medical expenses from the past by submitting actual bills given to the injured person by their health medical providers. For future expenses, the attorney for the plaintiff will submit medical evidence that shows what treatment is likely to be required in the near future and what the treatment will cost currently. The amount of medical treatment needed could be affected by the victim's age at the time of the malpractice.

In order to establish damages for future loss of wages is feasible by proving how the injury affected the patient's future earning capacity and ability to work. This can be proven by expert witness testimony or by examining similar cases in the previous.

Pain and suffering is a broad term that refers to the physical and mental distress and discomfort which patients suffer because of medical malpractice. This kind of injury is typically based on the testimony of the victim and witnesses and evidence such as photographs videos, audiotapes, and written reports.