If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical negligence in St. Louis, Missouri or Southern Illinois and you are considering a malpractice claim, one of the questions you most likely have is: how much is my malpractice claim worth?
The amount of compensation you can receive for a medical malpractice claim is going to vary depending upon a number of factors specific to your case. An experienced St Louis or Southern Illinois medical malpractice lawyer can evaluate your claim and help you to get an idea of what your case may result in as far as compensation, but it can be very difficult to predict exactly what the value of your claim should be.
How Much Compensation Should I Receive for Medical Malpractice in St Louis MO or Southern Illinois?
Although valuing your medical malpractice claim can be challenging, it is important to have some idea of what your medical malpractice case is worth. This is essential if you are negotiating an out-of-court settlement so you can determine if the offer made by the insurance company is a reasonable one that will fairly compensate you for your losses or not.
While you cannot get an exact value for your claim, you can get an estimation of the worth of your case by understanding the factors that affect medical malpractice compensation. The different things that you should be compensated for if you have been the victim of medical malpractice in Missouri and Illinois include:
- All medical bills for treatments and therapies that were made necessary by the healthcare provider’s mistake. This includes surgery, medicine, adaptive medical devices and even transportation to doctor’s appointments. The compensation for medical bills should also include payment of bills you are likely to incur in the future as a result of the injuries or illness caused by the medical negligence.
- Lost income for any reduction in your earnings or future earning potential caused by the medical mistake. If you can no longer work, if you had to take time off from work, or if you have to switch to a lower paying job, you should be compensated for the wages you lost.
- Pain and suffering. When your injury causes you physical discomfort or results in you experiencing a decline in quality of life, you should be paid for the pain you endure.
- Emotional distress. Often, people harmed by medical malpractice will experience emotional problems including depression or anxiety. You should receive monetary payment for the emotional harm that you experience.
It may also be possible to recover punitive damages in some situations. Punitive damages are limited to cases where the behavior was intentional or egregiously negligent and are designed not necessarily to compensate victims, but to punish defendants.
Finally, if the medical malpractice led to a death, then surviving family members can pursue a wrongful death case with the help of a St. Louis medical malpractice attorney or an Illinois medical malpractice attorney. Wrongful death damages include compensation for medical bills before the death; lost earnings of the deceased; funeral costs and lost companionship.
Understanding the different kinds of compensation you deserve should help you to estimate how much your medical malpractice case is worth. Your St. Louis, MO or Southern Illinois medical malpractice attorney can also assist you in reviewing past case outcomes to get a better idea of the value of your claim.
