Calculating an Anne Arundel County Medical Malpractice Settlement
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When considering how much compensation is needed to cover medical malpractice injuries, a person may need to do research on the long term and short term cost of their damages. After calculating lost wages and medical bills, one may need to enter a negotiation with lawyers representing the other party and go back and forth until an amount is agreed upon by all individuals involved. It might be difficult for someone recovering from medical malpractice injuries to take these steps without the help of an Anne Arundel County Medical Malpractice Lawyer. A compassionate attorney could do the job of calculating an Anne Arundel County medical malpractice settlement while you recover from your injuries.
Understanding the Settlement Process
In Anne Arundel County, the lawyers who represent either the person who had malpractice committed upon them or the estate of that person may typically meet with lawyers for the hospital, doctor, or insurance company to begin calculating an Anne Arundel County medical malpractice settlement. In the settlement process, both parties enter mediation to discuss possible settlements for the medical malpractice issue. Even if a settlement is not reached immediately, the mediator could continue to be the go-between for the lawyers to try to resolve the case.
Who Determines the Amount of the Settlement?
The settlement is calculated based on a person’s economic and non-economic damages estimates. All parties involved in the malpractice lawsuit, from the insurance carrier to the plaintiff and the medical malpractice lawyer, may have a hand in determining the amount of a settlement. Lawyers could come up with the figure based on past medical expenses, any potential future medical expenses, lost wages, future lost wages, and the loss of services to the beneficiaries if the person is dead. They might decide on a number for pain and suffering, though in Anne Arundel County there are caps on certain non-economic damages. Non-economic damages could be compensation for a person’s pain and suffering, their grief, and their loss of companionship. In Anne Arundel County, the cap is $850,000 for one wrongful death beneficiary or for a survival action, which is the action that a person could file on behalf of the person who suffered the malpractice when the malpractice caused death. If a person has more than one wrongful death beneficiary, the cap is set at $1.2 million for non-economic damages. In Anne Arundel County, there are typically no caps on economic damages, which may include a person’s past medical expenses, past lost wages, future medical expenses, future life care, and future wages lost.
The Jury’s Involvement in the Calculation
A jury is never involved in a calculating a medical malpractice settlement in Anne Arundel County because the settlement could occur before the trial or while the trial is pending. The tendency of a jury pool to award liberal or conservative amounts of compensation at the end of a trial could be considered when the parties are deciding on the settlement amount in certain circumstances.
How a Plaintiff’s Negligence May Injured Affect Compensation
In Anne Arundel, there is a concept called contributory negligence that could dictate a complete bar to recovery if a person is in any way responsible for their own injuries. If there is a potential that the injured person did something to cause their own injury and there may be a defense of contributory negligence and/or assumption of a risk, the settlement might be less than it might have been had there been no evidence of possible contributory negligence.
A Medical Malpractice Lawyer Could Help
There are numerous rules, processes, and procedures that a person may need to follow in order to bring a lawsuit against a doctor and/or a hospital for medical malpractice. An experienced lawyer could help a plaintiff meet these requirements. Most people may not realize that a lawsuit has to go through the Health Claim Commission first. A lawyer representing a plaintiff could determine whether or not they have a valid medical malpractice claim in the first place. In medical malpractice, there may be side effects a person could exhibit that are considered accepted ramifications. In some cases, if someone has a shoulder surgery, the doctors might need to break a bone in order to successfully complete the procedure. When a person sits down before a procedure, they could be told about possible outcomes or side effects so that they might give informed consent. Even if the medical procedure resulted in a negative side effect, a breach in the standard of care may not have occurred.
Anne Arundel medical malpractice lawyers could help in calculating an Anne Arundel County medical malpractice settlement by evaluating all of the past, present, and future damages that you may have suffered. Speak to an attorney to begin the settlement process today.
