Understanding Your Rights to Medical Malpractice Compensation in New York Medical malpractice can lead to many losses, such as expensive medical bills, lost income and non-economic damages like suffering and pain. A New York attorney who is skilled can assist you in understanding your rights to compensation that you have. The first step is to determine if you sustained injuries as a result of medical mistake. Then you can proceed with the legal process of a malpractice suit. Medical expenses The most obvious expense related to malpractice is that of medical treatment needed to treat the resultant injuries. It's important to realize that this type of damage is capped by state law at a limit set by a health care provider's liability insurance policy. Some states have also established injured patient compensation funds in order to offset the perceived costs of litigation and assist providers reduce their liability insurance costs. Victims can claim compensation in addition to medical expenses when negligence is found to be a factor. These are known as economic or special damages. They include the costs of any medical procedures (past and future) that are required to treat the injuries resulting from the negligence, as well as any lost income caused by being unable to work because of the injury. In medical malpractice cases, pain and damages are also typical. This type of damage can differ widely among claimants and is considered to be subjective. This includes emotional distress, physical pain and other non-physical consequences of the malpractice. A plaintiff, for example may be able to claim compensation if a doctor made a mistake that led her to not attend a vital cancer screening. In certain cases punitive damages could be given. They are intended to penalize a doctor for particularly egregious behavior, like leaving a dirty sponge inside the body of a patient after surgery. Suffering and pain In medical malpractice cases there is pain and suffering as a form of non-economic damages. They cover the emotional and physical trauma that a victim suffered due to the negligent doctor's actions. The symptoms could be minor such as discomfort or anxiety or they may be more serious such as loss of enjoyment in life or depression, embarrassment, or fear. It's hard to determine the value of pain and suffering, so jury instructions typically leave it up to the jurors to use their personal judgment, background, and experience in determining what they believe is fair and reasonable. The amounts that are awarded in malpractice lawsuits can vary. Your medical malpractice attorney can help you prove your case with evidence. Photos and X-rays, along with home models, movies and diagrams will help jurors understand the severity of your injuries. If a doctor's malpractice caused the death of a patient, heirs may recover damages through survival statutes or wrongful death lawsuits. The law governing wrongful death allows the spouse and children of a victim killed to receive the same compensation they would have received if the patient survived. The total amount of damages the victim can collect is typically restricted by the state's cap on pain and suffering. It is essential to have a knowledgeable medical malpractice lawyer by your side to fight for the compensation you deserve. Loss of wages If you miss work because of medical malpractice you may be able to recover your lost wages. This includes your base salary plus bonuses, commissions, and benefits from employment. Also, it includes any pay raises or increases in pay. Your lawyer will go through your pay stubs from the past to calculate your earnings per hour prior to the injury, and after that, subtract your missed work to arrive at your total lost earnings. Your attorney can also help you determine the future loss of earnings using a present value calculation. This is a complicated analysis of financials that considers the impact of your injuries on your capacity to work in the future. it's usually done by a specialist hired by your attorney. In addition, to compensating your economic losses, you may also claim non-economic damages for the pain and suffering caused by the accident. The jury will determine the appropriate amount of compensation which varies from case to case. Some states cap these damages. However they have been ruled inconstitutional by numerous courts. Seven-figure settlements typically involve serious permanent injuries or deaths that result from extreme medical neglect. For example, surgical mistakes resulting in amputations, obstetric errors leading to infant brain damage and maternal death, and anesthesia errors which cause comas can all result in high-value settlements. Punitive damages, designed to punish bad behaviour are also available in certain circumstances. Future medical treatment and damages In medical malpractice cases, there are two types of damages a plaintiff can pursue: non-economic and economic damages. The first is based on quantifiable losses, like past or future medical expenses. The latter are more difficult to quantify, and includes the pain and suffering as well as the loss of enjoyment of life. In a case of medical malpractice the jury will have to hear expert testimony to evaluate these kinds of losses. It is fairly simple to prove past medical expenses by submitting actual bills that were sent to the person who was injured by their health medical providers. The lawyer representing the plaintiff will provide medical evidence to show what treatments are likely to be needed in the future, and how much they cost today. The amount of future medical treatment required can also be affected by the victim's ages at the time of the incident. Damages to future wages can be proved by demonstrating the impact of the injury on a patient's ability to work and earning capacity in the future. This could be substantiated by expert testimony or by looking at similar cases from the past. Pain and suffering is a broad term that encompasses the mental and physical discomfort and suffering that patients suffer due to medical malpractice. This type of damages is usually based on the testimony of the victim and other witnesses and other evidence like videos, photographs and written reports.