Posted On:
May 24, 2009
"The Myth of Huge Medical Malpractice Payouts"
The Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Blog has posted an article about the "myth" of huge settlements from medical malpractice lawsuits.
Expecting to receive millons of dollars in compensation, in most cases, isn't realistic.
According to the article, less than 10% of malpractice suits in Maine, Florida, Nevada, and Missouri had payouts of $1 million or more.
...multi-million dollar verdicts in these cases are not as prevalent as believed. Not only is the investigatory process expensive due to all of the medical records that need to be compiled and all of the expert witness testimony required, but more often than not, it takes years to get one of these cases to trial. Finally, once the case gets to trial, juries are many times very reluctant to award large damage amounts because they have heard all the erroneous stories about the huge jury awards in some cases.
The typical payout is $278,000-$350,000 for long-term and life-altering injuries or ailments. For "temporary or emotional injuries" the average payout is $5,000-$79,000. However, the article does warn that most medical malpractice suits end without the person seeking compensation receiving any.
Actually, only one in eight preventable medical errors committed in hospitals results in a malpractice claim and punitive damages are awarded in less than 1 percent of medical malpractice cases.
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