How much money is a medical malpractice case worth?

Calculating damages in a medical malpractice case is done by summing up the individual expenses that the medical negligence caused (and will cause in the future) the patient. There are several different types of damages for which a plaintiff will seek monetary compensation. Let's start with economic damages.

Economic Damages

Economic damages, or expenses, are those that have a specific dollar amount. Some examples of economic damages are lost income, medical expenses, cost of future medical care and future lost earnings.

Lost Income

Lost income is a fairly easy number to calculate, and is comprised of all the income that was not made due to an inability to work. For example, if a patient suffers a stroke during surgery and is unable to work for six months, at a salary of $50,000, then the damages would be $25,000.

Medical Expenses

Medical expenses are another straightforward expense to calculate. Aside from the cost of the original hospital visit and treatment (where the medical negligence originally occurred).

Future Medical Care

This one is a little more complicated. Upon determining the award or settlement amount, your attorney will attempt to estimate the cost of any future medical care necessary due to the injury caused by medical negligence. For example, if a young patient is caused brain damage due to anoxia during anesthesia, then future medical care will be substantial, potentially in the millions of dollars.

Future Lost Earnings

If medical negligence renders a patient unable to work, then future lost earning can be demanded through a medical malpractice lawsuit. This number depends entirely on the age of the plaintiff upon injury (or death) and his or her earning power.

For example, if a 30 year old man earning $50,000 annually is killed due to a surgical mistake, his family can sue for all the income that he would have earned had he lived. This is calculated by taking $50,000, plus a 5-10% annual raise over 35 years, reduced to it's present value, which would be around $845,000

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages are those for which a number value cannot be calculated or estimate without subjective decision. The most common and well known non-economic expense is pain and suffering. Obviously, it is impossible to place a dollar value on pain or suffering. Even so, the law affords plaintiffs the ability to demand money for these damages.

In order to come up with a dollar amount, attorneys and judges will look back at previous cases with similar circumstances in order to come up with a number. In many medical malpractice cases, pain and suffering will make up the largest portion of the award or settlement amount.

State Caps

Depending on the state in which the medical negligence occurred, there may or may not be a limit to the amount of money recoverable for non-economic damages. For example, California and Texas place a limit of $250,000 on pain and suffering, whereas New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and many other states have no limit. Other states have complicated sliding scales, such as Florida whose cap slides from $500,000 to $1,500,000.

Ultimately, the amount of money awarded, or settled for, will depend on the legal skill and experience of the plaintiffs medical malpractice lawyer. That is why it's so important for victims of medical negligence to talk to a medical malpractice lawyer, and not simply their family attorney or friend.