Medical Malpractice Damages
If you have recently filed a medical malpractice lawsuit, you probably have a lot of questions. A common question is how much you should expect to receive if you win your case. You should always talk to a medical malpractice attorney, like a medical malpractice attorney, about any questions you have, but it can also be helpful to research the answers on your own so that you are a little more informed. This guide will explain the answer to this question.
How Much You Will Receive
It turns out that this is not really the right question to be asking. Every malpractice case where the plaintiff wins will receive a different amount of money. You should not be thinking about how much you can win, but rather how much you have lost and should be compensated for.
The goal of any lawsuit is for justice to be served. If the plaintiff wins, this means he or she is entitled to receive compensation for all damages, and not a cent more. You should be returned to the financial situation you were in prior to the medical malpractice.
Types of Damages
That being said, there are three types of damages. These types of damages will determine how much you will receive to fully compensate you for your losses. They are:
- Special compensatory damages
- General compensatory damages
- Punitive damages
Special compensatory damages refer to all losses with objective financial value. For example, if your medical bills came to $5,000 in total, their objective financial value is $5,000. This category only includes things where you can assign an exact dollar value to it, such as lost wages or the purchase of medicine.
General compensatory damages cover everything without an objective financial value, such as pain and suffering or loss of mobility. The judge will decide exactly how much these losses are worth. For example, a judge may decide that the painful experience you had to endure is worth $500.Punitive damages are not meant to compensate the victim, but rather to punish the defendant. If it is found that the defendant acted in a very irresponsible or malicious way and the general and special compensatory damages do not fully cover the wrongdoing, the judge may decide additional punishment is necessary in the form of punitive damages. There is nothing you or your attorney can do to cause punitive damages to be assigned.
The total amount you will receive from your medical malpractice case will be the sum of special compensatory damages, general compensatory damages, and punitive damages.