Medical malpractice is a branch of law dealing with the rights and duties of physicians, hospitals, nurses, and dentists. It deals with negligence on the part of healthcare professionals and may result in monetary awards for those who have been victims of medical malpractice. Medical malpractice settlement cases require expert attorneys due to the specialized nature of both medical and legal terminologies. This is done between you and your malpractice attorney, who will use their knowledge of similar cases to make a fair claim.
Medical malpractice is common and can happen in the most unexpected situations. If you’re thinking about claiming medical malpractice against your doctor, you’ll likely enter a complex and confusing process. To be aware of the financial aspects of this process is to take the first step in understanding the process. You need to know how to navigate the system that starts from filing the lawsuit and ends with all parties involved agreeing on the compensation amount. This tip sheet is designed to help guide you through the basic steps of a medical malpractice settlement.
Proving Negligence and Causation
Let’s consider the example of cerebral palsy. The cause can either be improper brain development during pregnancy or damage to the brain/nerve of a completely healthy baby during birth. If your child suffers from this disease and you think it was due to medical negligence, filing a medical malpractice cerebral palsy lawsuit would require you to gather all evidence that proves malpractice. If you don’t have proof that your doctor was negligent and caused harm, then there’s no point in filing a suit against them.
Negligence is the most important element of any medical malpractice case. Proving negligence requires showing that your doctor or other health care provider failed to follow accepted standards of care, which resulted in the injury. This can be done through expert testimony, medical records, witness statements, and other evidence supporting your case.
Proving causation is also critical in most cases. Proving causation means proving that your injury was caused by your doctor’s failure to meet the accepted standard of care, rather than being caused by some other reason such as genetics or an accident unrelated to medical treatment.
Negotiating the Value
Negotiating the value of a medical malpractice claim is an important step in the settlement process. It’s often one of the most difficult parts of a malpractice claim. Why? Because there are so many factors that determine the value of a claim, they can all affect how much money you’ll end up with. This is done between you and your attorney, who will use their knowledge of similar cases to make a fair claim.
Medical malpractice cases have a lot of variables that go into determining their value. The amount of compensation that you may receive will depend on:
- The severity of injuries
- How much medical treatment do you need to recover from those injuries
- Whether you lost wages because of your injuries
- The likelihood of suffering future complications or infections related to the treatment or procedure performed by your doctor or hospital staff member.
Approval from the Medical Professional
Medical malpractice lawsuit settlements are quite different from personal injury lawsuits. In latter cases, the defendant’s insurance company manages the settlement. But in medical malpractice lawsuits, the law states that obtaining approval from your doctor or another medical professional who treated you during the incident is extremely necessary. In simpler words, this will either make or break your case!
This person will review your medical records and confirm that there was negligence on behalf of the defendant’s doctor or hospital. If the medical personnel involved refuses to accept their mistake, the lawsuit will have to go to trial and cannot be settled out of court.
It is also a common belief that medical malpractice insurance companies make sure that the lawsuits are taken to court and that they strongly oppose settlements. So it is a tough game to win!
Involve the State Medical Board
Next, it’s time to file an official complaint with the state medical board. They’ll investigate your claim before deciding whether or not it has merit — if they find that there’s nothing wrong with the doctor’s practice, you may have no choice but to settle out of court because there won’t be any legal repercussions for them anyway.
However, if they decide that there is something wrong with their practice, they’ll take action against the negligent doctor and possibly revoke their license. This will make it much easier for you to win your case when it comes time for trial because now there are actual consequences attached to their actions.
Payment of settlements
Insurance companies pay out medical malpractice settlements on behalf of their clients found liable for negligence in court. The insurance company is responsible for paying out the settlement amount and any expenses related to the case, like legal fees, expert witness fees, and court costs. If an insurance company does not offer a fair settlement, you can pursue further action against them through arbitration or mediation with the help of a lawyer.
Medical malpractice settlements are paid out based on the plaintiff’s nature of injury(s), age, and the law of the jurisdiction. There are two ways:
- Structured Payment – Cases involving minors, especially those suffering from childbirth injuries, use this type of method. These are structured payments designed to cover current and future medical bills. Children may also receive a payout once they reach a certain age.
- Lump-sum amount – the entire payment of settlement is paid in one go. Many families prefer taking this amount which gives them the flexibility to open up trust funds for past, present, and future medical bills.
Conclusion
The process of filing a medical malpractice lawsuit is rather complex and can be daunting. Nonetheless, with proper guidance and the assistance of an experienced attorney, the process is not difficult to navigate. After bringing your potential claim to a qualified healthcare attorney, they will be able to provide more detailed information as warranted by your case circumstances. The information provided in this article is intended to provide helpful but general guidance about the medical malpractice settlement process. It will be important to be on top of each detail if you wish to have a successful outcome. The sooner you have this figured out, the more successful your claim is likely to be.