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Types of Damages in Medical Malpractice Cases in Nevada
When you are injured by a nurse, doctor, hospital, or other form of healthcare provider due to their negligence, you may be entitled to various damages under Nevada's medical malpractice laws.
The types of damages you can seek in a medical malpractice case are meant to compensate you for the financial, physical, and mental damages a medical professional's negligence caused to your life.
Understanding the types of medical malpractice damages you can pursue in a medical malpractice case is crucial to ensuring a just financial recovery.
Economic Damages
In medical malpractice cases, economic losses refer to the monetary damages you suffered as a result of the medical malpractice.
Types of economic damages commonly claimed in a medical malpractice case include:
- Medical Expenses: All past and future medical expenses related to medical malpractice, including emergency treatments, surgeries, hospital stays, prescription medications, physical therapy sessions, and other medical treatment needs.
- Lost Wages: If the medical malpractice injuries prevent you from working for an extended period of time, financial compensation can be sought for all the past and future lost wages.
- Loss of Earning Capacity: Compensation can be sought in the event that your injuries caused a permanent reduction in your ability to work or earn income as you were before the medical malpractice injuries.
- Miscellaneous Costs: Other expenses stemming from the medical negligence, such as transportation, assistive devices, or home modifications costs, can be included in a claim.
Economic damages are typically quantifiable to an exact amount using receipts, invoices, and accounting for future financial losses.
Miscaulating your economic loss in a medical malpractice can have forever-lasting financial consequences, so it's crucial to avoid such a situation by contacting an experienced medical malpractice lawyer at the Rodney Okano Car Accident Lawyer Law Firm, who can help in obtaining fair compensation for you by ensuring that, all you econmic damages both past and future are accounted for in your claim.
Schedule a free consultation with a Las Vegas medical malpractice attorney from our law firm today by calling (702) 566-3600.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages address the losses that can't be quantified by an exact monetary amount, typically the physical, mental, and emotional suffering caused by medical negligence.
Types of non-economic damages sought in medical malpractice cases are:
- Pain and Suffering: The chronic pain, discomfort, and physical distress caused by the injuries.
- Emotional Distress: Includes emotional trauma, such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other mental suffering.
- Loss of Enjoyment of Life: Similar to emotional distress, the loss of enjoyment of life aims to compensate medical malpractice victims for the inability to enjoy normal activities or take part in hobbies due to their injuries.
Seeking non-economic damages can be a challenging task because they are completely subjective, and an insurance company or jury typically only has personal testimony, accounts from family members or friends, and their own observations to determine the amount of non-economic damages a victim should receive.
Due to this factor, enlisting help from a Las Vegas medical malpractice lawyer is recommended, as they can best prepare your medical malpractice claim to resonate with insurance companies, the jury, or the judge.
Punitive Damages
In medical malpractice cases involving extreme misconduct or intentional harm, you may be awarded punitive damages.
Punitive damages are meant to punish healthcare providers for the gross misconduct or intentional act they took that led to the medical malpractice lawsuit.
However, punitive damages are relatively rare in a medical malpractice case, as punitive damages are only awarded if the healthcare provider acted with:
- Oppression
- Fraud
- Malice
See if you may be entitled to punitive damages today by calling (702) 566-3600 for a free case evaluation with a Nevada medical malpractice attorney.
How to Determine the Value of Your Medical Malpractice Case
Determining the value of your medical malpractice claim can be an extremely complicated task due to the number of factors involved; however, there are a few key factors that can give you an idea of how much your case may be worth.
However, if you are seeking the true value of your medical malpractice lawsuit, you should schedule a free case consultation with our Las Vegas personal injury lawyers by calling (702) 566-3600.
Extent of Injuries
The severity of your injuries will significantly impact the value of your medical malpractice case.
Minor injuries that pass with time will typically result in lower compensatory damages, while catastrophic or serious injuries, such as severe brain trauma, paralysis, organ failure, or death, result in larger settlement amounts.
Financial, Physical, and Mental Impact
The amount of economic and non-economic losses you incur due to the medical malpractice is undoubtedly a main factor in determining the worth of a claim.
Those who suffer major emotional trauma, financial loss, and physical pain are typically awarded higher damages.
Liabilty
Liability in a medical malpractice lawsuit can make or break it, as if it's clear that the healthcare providers commit a negligent act, seeking compensation will be a straightforward path.
However, if the healthcare providers involved in your medical malpractice claim dispute fault or worse, argue that you were partially at-fault for the incident, you could lose out on receiving compensatory damages or be burdened by legal fees in the event of a loss.
To fight the healthcare providers from disputing fault or blaming you for the incident, it's crucial that you work with an experienced legal team that can represent you in negotiations and court.
How Can You Prove Damages in a Medical Malpractice Claim
Proving damages is a required step in the medical malpractice claim process, and not knowing how to do so can jeopardize your settlement.
Key ways you can prove damages in a medical malpractice claim are:
- Utilizing medical records to prove injuries.
- Presenting bills, receipts, financial statements, and lost income letters to represent the financial losses you incurred.
- Have an expert, such as a doctor, testify on your behalf to prove the negligence in the medical operation and the injuries that resulted from it.
- Personal and family testimony can provide a jury with a look into how the injuries impacted your life.
Caps on Medical Malpractice Damages in Nevada
In Nevada, there is $350,000 cap for all non-economic damages regardless of the severity of the physical pain and mental health effects.
The $350,000 will apply even in court-awarded settlements, meaning even if a jury awarded a settlement for non-economic damages higher than $350,000, it will be brought down to abide by the cap.
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Rodney Okano Car Accident Lawyer is a Las Vegas personal injury law firm with over 20 years of experience helping clients obtain maximum compensation following injuries from accidents such as car crashes, worksite injuries, and slips and falls. Over those years, The Rodney Okano Car Accident Lawyer Law Firm has become an experienced law firm that can ensure exceptional results for any of its clients.
