For what medical malpractice damages--costs, injuries, or expenses--can someone receive compensation? The main ones are (1) medical costs; (2) lost wages; (3) replacement services; (4) out-of-pocket costs; and (5) pain and suffering. In extreme cases, a person might also be able to recover punitive damages.
All of the above are collectively called “damages.” All of them but punitive damages are called “compensatory damages,” since they are compensation for something lost or suffered.
Medical Costs
Often malpractice requires additional medical care to set right, or at least ameliorate, it. Any and all medical costs, to date or future, may be recovered, including prescriptions, therapy, and medical devices, as well as doctor’s visits or hospital stays.
Lost Wages
Medical malpractice can result in a person missing work; or in being unable to do their current job and having to take a less lucrative one; or in being unable to work in the future. All such loss of income can be recovered.
Replacement services and Out-of-Pocket Costs
As a result of malpractice-caused disability, is a person unable to keep house, care for his or her children, do yard work, cook, drive, or perform other daily functions? If so, and the person has to hire someone to help out, the cost of that assistant’s wages can be recovered.
Similarly, does a person have to modify their home to be handicapped accessible? Buy new furniture? Pay for taxis instead of driving? Out-of-pocket costs are also recoverable.
Pain and Suffering
Medical malpractice results in long-term, or even lifetime, disability. It can also result in chronic pain, or scarring and disfigurement. While putting a monetary value on pain and suffering is more an art than a science, the legal system does allow victims of malpractice to receive compensation for pain, disability, and disfigurement.
Punitive Damages
Most malpractice cases—like most lawsuits generally—do not give rise to punitive damages. It takes more than “mere” negligence, no matter how harmful, to award damages which are not compensation for losses. However, when the behavior giving rise to malpractice is shockingly bad—such as a neurosurgeon showing up drunk for an operation—punitive damages my be recoverable.
When to Talk to a Lawyer
There are many different components to damages, including other potentially recoverable losses, such as a spouse’s claim for loss of consortium (loss of companionship or intimacy). A lawyer can help make sure that an injured patient receives all the compensation to which he or she is entitled.
