Over 90 percent of all viable medical malpractice claims settle with liable insurers within two years. Contrary to dramatic television depictions, only about seven percent of medical malpractice cases end with jury verdicts. The best medical negligence lawyers are experienced negotiators who can maximize case settlement values while avoiding unnecessary litigation. These critical skills help claimants recover quicker compensation from negligent medical professionals.
Every healthcare malpractice claim differs because every patient differs. The same medical mistakes frequently impact individual patients in unique ways. Your career, overall health, age, and insurance resources each contribute to your case’s settlement value. Local medical malpractice attorneys might offer claimants non-binding estimates of their cases’ worth, but calculating the average settlement value in medical malpractice cases requires a detailed case-by-case analysis.
Please note: Brauns Law Accident Injury Lawyers PC is licensed to practice personal injury law in the state of Georgia. If you need legal assistance from another area, please contact your state’s legal bar association.
Understanding Available Damages in Medical Negligence Cases
Medical malpractice occurs when licensed healthcare professionals (or facilities) deviate from accepted medical procedures and cause preventable patient injuries. Medical malpractice is a tort (or legal wrong) giving rise to financial liability.
Injured patients may seek compensatory damages (financial compensation) in legally actionable malpractice cases. Compensatory damages reimburse injured claimants for past losses and provide coverage for future anticipated financial needs. They do not punish the negligent healthcare provider.
Claimants must prove the existence and value of their damages during medical malpractice litigation and settlement negotiations.
Compensable direct damages may include:
- Hospital and emergency room expenses
- Doctor and rehabilitation bills
- Medications and pharmacy costs
- Medical equipment and specialized transportation
- Home or in-patient nursing care
- Lost income, including anticipated raises and bonus
- Lost career advancement and business opportunities
- Lost workplace healthcare and retirement benefits
Patients may recover damages for past losses, including their initial treatment bills, and anticipated future losses stemming from their injuries. Generally, medical malpractice attorneys retain economic and medical experts to calculate the value of these future losses. Courts and insurance companies may accept these calculations as direct evidence of prospective damages.
Importantly, injured claimants may also recover compensation for their frustrations, pain, and mental suffering. These real but incalculable losses often trouble claimants and their families the most. Patients may demand compensation for lost enjoyment of previous activities, physical pain, and daily frustrations.
Examples of these non-economic damages include the inability to exercise, drive, or sit without pain. They may also include the natural frustrations associated with the inability to cook, clean, or otherwise provide for loved ones. Insurers often calculate the value of these damages by multiplying the claimant’s direct damages (such as medical bills and lost income) by a seriousness factor. Life-altering injuries and shocking medical mistakes often result in higher pain and suffering settlements.
Types of Medical Malpractice and Common Settlement Ranges
Most medical negligence cases fall into one of five categories:
- Diagnostic errors – These include missed diagnoses, incorrect diagnoses, and unjustifiable diagnosis delays. Physician neglect, such as failure to take personal histories or spend sufficient time with patients, often leads to diagnostic malpractice.
- Treatment omissions and follow-up failures – Failing to order necessary diagnostic tests, review test results, and follow-up with patients often contributes to healthcare failures. Sometimes busy doctors don’t review available test results quickly, giving underlying conditions time to worsen.
- Surgical and anesthesia errors – The medication used to prepare patients for surgery can cause heart failure and brain death if administered improperly. Patients may wake up with trachea damage or even mental disabilities due to negligent anesthesiologists. Likewise, overworked surgeons have operated on the wrong patient, wrong body part, and even left surgical equipment inside patients.
- Birth and prenatal mistakes – Anoxic and hypoxic brain injuries may occur after traumatic births. Uncorrected umbilical cord compression during labor often causes infant brain damage. Doctors may also miss serious genetic conditions on ultrasounds or fail to recognize signs of gestational diabetes and preeclampsia in expectant mothers. All of these mistakes can lead to serious and fatal conditions in pregnant mothers and unborn children.
- Prescription drug and medical device injuries – Medical hardware and prescription drug errors may support product liability and medical malpractice litigation. Medical implants and other devices requiring surgical implantation may malfunction due to misplacement or manufacturing defects. Likewise, prescription drugs might cause serious illness and injury due to dosage errors or the company’s failure to warn about side effects.
Some medical malpractice cases only result in short-term damages. For example, prescribing patients medications that they’re allergic to that doctors fully treated in the emergency room. Other cases may involve years of misdiagnosed or mistreated medical conditions resulting in extensive pain and suffering. Consider the following types of cases based on their average settlement values.
$0 – $10,000
Insurers may offer minor settlements in viable malpractice cases with minimal damages. Examples might include allergic reactions resolved with medication, misdiagnosed conditions diagnosed shortly after the initial malpractice, or malpractice resulting in minor injuries (such as misplaced shots and IVs). If the claimant fully recovers from the malpractice-related condition in 30 days, the case may settle for the cost of out-of-pocket medical expenses and lost wages.
$10,000 – $30,000
Patients struggling with short-term disabilities (less than six months) may request additional malpractice damages. These cases generally include missed diagnoses, prenatal mistakes resulting in maternal suffering, and minor surgical errors. If the patient fully recovers from the malpractice related injuries within a few months, they may recover medical and rehabilitation costs, lost wages, and some additional damages from prolonged suffering. Minor injuries caused by criminal conduct, such as practicing medicine under the influence of alcohol, might also command this higher settlement value.
$30,000 – $100,000
Medical errors requiring additional minor surgeries and rehabilitation often result in higher settlement values. For example, chiropractic mistakes resulting in slipped discs may require spinal fusion surgery and rehabilitation. Delayed diagnosis cases might also settle in this range if the delay did not significantly impact the patient’s treatment protocol. Minor burn and scarring cases could also command this value absent additional injury. If patients fully recover within one year without long-term damage, the case may settle for around $100,000.
$100,000 – $500,000
The following cases frequently command these settlement values, depending on the claimant’s actual lost wages, medical bills, and pain:
- Prenatal mistakes leading to miscarriage
- Labor and delivery errors leading to hysterectomies or fertility struggles
- Leaving items within patients after surgery, such as sponges or tools
- Sanitation and sterilization negligent leading to serious infections or illnesses
- Negligent resulting in chronic mild injuries, such as back pain or headaches
- Nursing home sexual abuse and intentional neglect
- Conditions that substantially worsened due to a delayed or missed diagnosis
- Perspiration drug errors resulting in temporary organ damage
- Errors leading to finger and toe amputations or severe scarring
- Mistakes leading to chronic pain, fatigue, and depression
Cases settling within this range generally involve claimants who eventually return to normal activities. Claimants may need to change careers or exercise programs, but they should recover with treatment. Some severe malpractice cases, such as amputations or abuse, may settle within this range if patients do not retain an experienced attorney. Lower settlements for permanent injuries might also result if claimants did not seek continuous medical care or cannot provide insurers with necessary evidence.
Over $1 Million
Seven-figure malpractice settlements generally involve serious, permanent injuries associated with extreme healthcare neglect. These cases may involve the doctor losing his license to practice medicine, permanent disabilities, or even wrongful death claims. Surgical mistakes resulting in unnecessary amputations, birthing errors causing severe infant brain damage or maternal death, anesthesia mistakes causing comas, or a missed diagnosis permitting deadly cancers to metastasize might also command seven-figure settlements.
However, claimants must still prove the existence and value of their financial losses. Acceptable evidence typically includes expert reports showing the claimant’s lifetime lost wages, anticipated future nursing costs, and associated mental anguish. Medical neglect resulting in life-changing conditions, such as infant brain damage, blindness, vegetative states, and paralysis, most commonly command these high-value settlements.
Factors Insurers Consider When Offering Malpractice Settlements
Most licensed healthcare providers and facilities must carry medical malpractice insurance. Lawyers recommend making insurance claims before filing litigation as it’s often the quickest way to recover reasonable damages. Medical neglect settlements depend on numerous factors. Generally, insurers adjusters strive to reduce their company’s financial liability while lawyers try to maximize their clients’ settlement offers. This negotiation process often results in settlements that balance both interests.
Each side generally analyzes the following factors before offering or demanding malpractice settlements:
- The number of liable parties
- The amount of actual and anticipated damages
- Testimony regarding the claimant’s pain and suffering
- The claim’s viability and factual accuracy
- The seriousness and impact of the claimant’s injuries
- The extent and nature of the malpractice
- Available evidence and expert testimony
- Legal costs and fees saved by settling
- Any mitigating or aggravating factors
Aggravating factors usually result in higher settlement offers. Examples include unexplainable mistakes, such as operating on the wrong patient and physician impairment due to drug or alcohol abuse. Physical abuse and intentional medical neglect might also result in more favorable settlements. While claimants might file separate abuse claims, nursing home abuse often gives rise to malpractice liability. Consider speaking with an experienced medical negligence lawyer if the case involves potentially criminal conduct.
Timeline for Obtaining Medical Malpractice Settlements
It frequently takes longer to settle medical malpractice cases than traditional personal injury claims. This delay typically occurs because patients need expert assistance during the litigation and claims process. Another qualified medical expert must testify about the alleged malpractice before insurers will offer a settlement.
This expert analysis often requires a request and review of substantial medical records. Further, experts must help patients differentiate between their initial condition and the injuries caused by the negligent healthcare provider. Even recovering minor malpractice settlements typically takes several months or more than a year.
High-value malpractice claims take longer because most patients continue suffering damages throughout the claims process. Patients with permanent injuries generally incur additional medical costs and financial losses each month. Likewise, the frustration associated with these injuries may eventually lead to depression, chronic fatigue, and family breakdown.
Attorneys often wait until patients reach maximum medical improvement or receive a reliable prognosis before making settlement demands. This process could take years, but medical malpractice lawyers could help clients recover partial financial settlements or obtain necessary insurance benefits during this period.
Calculating the Take-Home Value of Malpractice Settlements
Experienced medical malpractice lawyers should help clients understand the difference between their cases’ settlement value and take-home value. Most injury lawyers accept cases on a contingency fee (delayed payment) basis. Instead of charging by the hour, malpractice attorneys often represent clients in exchange for a percentage of the overall settlement amount. Many law firms even front the expensive expert witness and medical records fees necessary to obtain reasonable settlements.
Once the parties agree on the settlement, the attorney deposits the funds into an escrow account. She then subtracts her legal fees and costs. After that, lawyers should help clients settle any outstanding claims, including unpaid medical bills, and reimburse certain private insurers for covering malpractice related expenses. Once all parties approve the final payout, malpractice claimants can generally expect to recover their percentage of the eventual settlement.
The Importance of Retaining a Medical Negligence Lawyer
Medical Malpractice Lawyer, David Brauns
Nearly all malpractice settlements come from healthcare insurance companies, but insurers have no obligation to settle claims. They only do so when adjusters determine it’s less risky to meet your settlement demands than try the case. Unrepresented claimants cannot try medical malpractice cases alone and, as such, pose no risk to insurers. They also cannot generally afford to retain the medical experts necessary to establish viable malpractice claims.
Even after deducting legal fees and expenses, claimants frequently recover substantially higher medical malpractice settlements with dedicated legal counsel—most insurers will offer between nothing and $10,000 to unrepresented legal claimants but may increase the offer tenfold after receiving correspondence from your lawyer. Contact Brauns Law Accident Injury Lawyers, PC to learn more about your legal options.
