Seattle Medical Malpractice Compensation and Settlements
If you were injured by a negligent doctor, you should talk with a lawyer about how to hold that medical provider and possibly their employer responsible. You might have the right to file a Washington medical malpractice claim. While pursuing a legal claim can’t fix what’s been done, it can provide you compensation for your expenses and pain and suffering.
Matt Menzer from Menzer Law Firm has three decades of experience bringing medical negligence claims in Washington and Hawaii. He has a keen insight into the damages you can be awarded in a medical malpractice case and the factors that might increase or lower your recovery.
To learn more about potential compensation from medical malpractice claims, call Menzer Law Firm at (206) 903-1818, chat with an online representative or use the contact form to request a free initial consultation.
Compensation You Can Receive from a Medical Malpractice Claim
Economic Damages
Washington defines your economic damages as any objectively verifiable monetary losses. There’s no limit on how much you can receive for your economic injuries caused by medical negligence.
You can seek reimbursement for all of your:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Reduced earning potential
- Loss of business or employment opportunities
- Cost of obtaining domestic services
- Other injury-related out-of-pocket expenses
Your medical expenses include but aren’t limited to doctors’ appointments, specialists, emergency room visits, hospital stays, prescription medications, medical treatments, diagnostic testing, physical rehabilitation, medical supplies, at-home care, hospice care, and travel to and from medical care.
If you lost a loved one to medical malpractice, you can demand compensation for these damages along with the funeral and burial expenses.
Noneconomic Damages
Noneconomic damages are subjective, non-monetary losses, which include:
- Physical Pain and Suffering
- Emotional and Mental anguish
- Disability
- Disfigurement
- Loss of society and companionship
- Loss of consortium (relationship with a spouse)
- Embarrassment and Humiliation
- Destruction of the parent-child relationship
Establishing Your Medical Malpractice Damages
It’s important to talk with an experienced attorney about how much your case might be worth. The first thing we’ll do is calculate your economic injuries. This number will be based on your bills, receipts, and records of your wages—it’s an objective figure.
Several factors impact the value of your medical malpractice claim, including the severity of your injuries. Serious injuries, and those that lead to disability or disfigurement, can result in greater economic and noneconomic damages than moderate injuries. If need be, we’ll work with medical and rehabilitation experts to establish the gravity of your injuries and how they impact your future.
Your ability to establish your pain, suffering and other noneconomic damages are essential. You need to document as best you can how badly these injuries have impacted your life. We might recommend you take photographs, see your doctors on a regular basis, and keep a daily journal of your pain and other experiences.
How a Medical Provider Can Try to Limit your Compensation
Pure Comparative Fault
Your medical provider might claim you partly caused your injuries or made the harm worse. They might allege you didn’t follow the treatment plan in some way, for instance, you didn’t take all of the prescribed medication or follow through with physical therapy.
In Washington, if you contributed to your injuries, you’ll be assigned a percentage of fault. The state follows a pure comparative negligence rule. Your amount of fault proportionately decreases your compensation, but no amount of fault bars you from receiving a settlement or jury award.
Evidence of Other Compensation
During mediation or a trial, the medical provider can put forth evidence that you’ve already received compensation (money or property) from someone else for your injuries. This could mean you received other insurance proceeds, but it doesn’t include help from family. You can fight back against this evidence by showing that any compensation you’ve received must be paid back.
Does Washington Have Medical Malpractice Damage Caps?
No, there is no statutory limit on how much compensation you can receive. Years ago, Washington placed a limit on how much you could receive for noneconomic damages, based on a multiplier of your life expectancy and average annual wages (both of which were determined by law). But in 1989, the Supreme Court of Washington found a limitation on noneconomic damages was unconstitutional.
Let Menzer Law Firm Fight for You
We can’t make any guarantees regarding what your medical negligence claim is worth. But we can promise to thoroughly evaluate your damages and fight for you to receive the maximum compensation possible.
To schedule a free consultation with Menzer Law Firm in Seattle, WA, use our online form or call (206) 903-1818.
We Handle All Types of Medical Malpractice
