Anytime you visit a doctor or medical care professional, you expect that person to take extra care to make sure your health is managed properly. However, medical malpractice is on the rise as healthcare facilities fail to put in place basic procedures in place to ensure that you are given the care that you require. Nursing home facilities and Rehabilitation Centers are some of the worst offenders of the basic standard of care to their patients. Many of our cases involved families who have loved ones who are treated in a nursing home and suffer severe and often life threatening injuries. These result from the gross lack of care from the medical providers at those facilities. The worst of such cases result in the patient dying from complications relating to the neglect.
While many wrongful death cases result in large jury verdicts against the wrongful party, medical malpractice cases severely limit the amount that can be awarded to the family. The law in fact severely limits damages when a person dies resulting from the negligence of a medical facility. First, the total amount of damages you can recover in a wrongful death medical malpractice case is limited to $500,000.00 adjusted for inflation. For a medical malpractice defendant, you are better off dead than alive as the damages are severely limited once a person passes away. Second, the amount of non-economic damages is capped at $250,000 per defendant for a maximum of $750,000. Non-economic damages include pain and suffering of the loved one and the anguish of losing your father, mother, or other cared for family member. This limit alone severely restricts the amount that you can be awarded from a trial and is often the largest amount of a typically wrongful death verdict.
Economic damages are often the most valuable portion of a malpractice case, as the law does not restrict the amount beyond the wrongful death cap. These damages often include medical expenses related to the incident, funeral expenses, lost earning capacity, and any other economic loss. Unfortunately, many elderly family members have little to no earning capacity, as they have already retired from the workforce. Because of this, the damages for many defendants is limited to $250,000, which is the maximum amount of non-economic damages you can recover.
If you or a loved one have suffered injuries relating to medical malpractice, please give us a call at (281) 846-4229 or email me at adam@fombylaw.com
