It is challenging to place an exact dollar amount on the average settlement for medical malpractice, as no two cases are identical. Compensation awarded varies depending on the nature of your injury, illness, and the other circumstances of your case.
If you believe substandard care on the part of the provider or their facility resulted in harm done to you, you may be entitled to seek compensation. However, it can be beneficial to seek legal advice, as medical malpractice is one of the most complex areas of personal injury law.
What Factors Can Affect a Medical Malpractice Settlement?
Every medical malpractice case has factors that can affect what a plaintiff is able to recover. Some of these factors include:
- The severity of your injuries: If your doctor failed to diagnose your cancer and allowed it to progress and become untreatable, you may be entitled to more than someone who suffered lesser complications.
- Your prognosis: How long it will take you to get better impacts your entitled awards.
- Your injuries keep you out of work. If your injuries keep you from working and affect your ability to work in the future, you may be entitled to more compensation than someone who only missed a few weeks of work.
- Your overall quality of life. If your injuries keep you from participating in the activities you or your loved one previously enjoyed, we can take this loss into account when we negotiate a settlement.
Keep in mind that these factors are just a few of the many that can affect how much compensation you receive. Your lawyer can elaborate more on this topic when you begin your case.
What Are the Recoverable Damages in a Malpractice Case?
While it is difficult to pinpoint the average settlement for medical malpractice, severe injury or illness claims tend to settle for higher amounts.
Unlike many other U.S. states, Illinois does not have a cap on malpractice lawsuits for damages. Typically, compensation is awarded for:
- Past and future medical bills and rehabilitation costs
- Lost wages
- Diminished future earning ability
- Amendments required at your home as part of your ongoing care
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of enjoyment of life
If you lost a loved one due to a medical provider’s failure to uphold their industry’s standard of care, we can help you file a wrongful death action. You may be eligible to recover the following:
- Medical bills from the time of injury until their death
- Lost wages
- Loss of support
- Funeral bills
- Loss of consortium
- Grief and mental suffering
What Qualifies as Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice applies when a healthcare provider does not uphold their field’s standard of care, resulting in injury, illness, or death. To qualify for legal action under malpractice law, you must be able to prove:
- You and your healthcare provider had a client-physician relationship.
- Your doctor was to provide you with the utmost standard of care, but they failed to uphold this obligation.
- An injury or illness was caused by this negligence.
- The injury resulted in significant damages.
Examples of Medical Malpractice
Medical negligence covers a broad range of situations, and they are more common than you may think. Johns Hopkins Medicine attributes medical errors to over 250,000 deaths each year nationwide, making medical malpractice the third-leading cause of death in the United States. Medical malpractice can take many forms, like:
- Missed or delayed diagnosis
- Misdiagnosis of serious health conditions such as cancer
- Surgical errors such as the wrong operation or surgery on the incorrect body part
- Pregnancy and birth injuries
- Prescription and medication errors with incorrect labeling, dosage, or medication types
- Injuries arising from understaffing or lack of sufficient training
- Failure to order medical tests or mistakes made interpreting test results
This list is just a handful of examples. Any act or omission that deviates from medical standards resulting in patient harm could be grounds for a malpractice lawsuit.
How Long do You Have to File a Malpractice Lawsuit?
It can be beneficial to seek legal advice sooner rather than later for several reasons:
- Gathering the evidence to support a highly technical case takes time.
- Illinois law usually requires injured parties to begin legal action within two years, per 735 ILCS §5/13-212(a).
The statute of limitations refers to fixed periods during which legal actions can be initiated. Typically, the clock starts ticking from the date the error occurred or was discovered and whether you lost a loved one. Allowing the time limit to elapse could invalidate your right to compensation.
You Can get Responsive Legal Representation
When it comes to holding healthcare providers accountable for negligent conduct, you can trust the attorneys at The Kryder Law Group, LLC to put your needs first every time.
Along with a free no-obligation case review, our services are provided on a contingency-fee basis. There are no up-front or hidden costs, and we will not charge you any lawyer’s fees unless we win your case. To find out how we can help, call (312) 598-0982 today.
(312) 223-1700