3 Medical Malpractice Questions

What types of damages can you recover in a medical malpractice case in Idaho? The answer is that all medical malpractice cases involve the recovery of medical expenses that had to be incurred due to the medical error involved. In some cases, those medical expenses are very substantial and other cases those medical expenses may not be nearly as substantial.

For example, let’s say that the patient died as a result of the medical error involved; the medical expense leading up to the death may not have been significant, but that doesn’t mean the case isn’t significant. The case could be very significant if there’s a death involved, so wrongful death cases are a specific category of medical malpractice cases that have their own set of damages that can be recovered. In a non-death medical malpractice case, typically those cases involve recovery of medical expenses, both past, meaning from the time of the incident to the time of the trial, and future, meaning from the time of trial into the indefinite future. Recovery of medical expenses is an important category of compensation.

Many people are harmed to the point where it interferes with their ability to work, so recovery of lost wages or lost income is an important category of damages that are commonly sought in medical malpractice cases. Another category is what I’ll generally refer to as pain and suffering. That’s a term that literally refers to the physical pain and suffering that you experienced throughout the course of whatever occurred. It doesn’t mean just the incident that resulted in the harm; it also involves the long-lasting effects of the harm. There are other damages other than the physical pain and suffering. It’s the disruption of your relationship with other family members. It’s the inability to engage in normal day-to-day activities. It’s the inability to engage in recreational habits or undertakings that you’re fond of doing. In addition to the out-of-pocket losses that come with medical expenses or lost income, the pain and suffering damages can be the most important damages that you’re claiming, and they can be substantial.

In Idaho, unfortunately, our legislature has adopted limits on how much you can recover for pain and suffering. In a medical malpractice case, there is no limit on how much you can recover for medical expenses that you’ve incurred or for income that you have lost. There’s not an artificial cap that applies to the loss of those types of damages. When it comes to pain and suffering, however, Idaho’s legislature has adopted a cap that limits how much you can recover, and the current amount of that cap is in the neighborhood of $350,000. What that means is your injury could be catastrophic and could have life-long consequences for you, but the damages you can recover for pain and suffering for that injury can be limited, legally, by laws adopted by our legislature.

It’s important to be familiar with these laws and important to understand that, at the very outset, you should consult with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer who is familiar with those laws and can explain those to you as you’re discussing whether you want to proceed with your case when you first consult with them. If you have questions about damages and medical malpractice cases, feel free to contact the Hepworth Holzer Law Firm and we’ll do our best to answer your questions.