The Myth of Huge Medical Malpractice Payouts
A Florida medical malpractice claim arises when there is an allegation that negligent medical treatment resulted in an injury or death. This negligent treatment could have been provided by a physician, surgeon, hospital or clinic.
Medical malpractice claims have become some of the most difficult cases for Plaintiff’s attorneys to undertake. Contrary to what most people think, 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.
Statistics in seven states from 2000-2004 show that most medical malpractice claims were closed without any compensation provided to those claiming a medical injury. For closed medical malpractice insurance claims that resulted in compensation for the injured party, fewer than 10% of the claims in Florida, Maine, Missouri and Nevada had a payout of $1,000,000.00 or more.
For persons receiving compensation, insurance payouts were highest for the persons who suffered lifelong major or grave permanent injuries and lowest for those who suffered temporary or emotional injuries. In Florida and Missouri, median range payouts from $278,000.00 to $350,000.00 were received by claimants with major or grave permanent injuries, in comparison to payouts ranging from $5,000.00 to $79,000.00 for the claimants with various types of temporary or emotional injuries. Most medical malpractice insurance claims were closed without a payout to the person seeking compensation for the alleged medical injury.
Studies have shown that between 44,000 to 98,000 Americans die in hospitals each year due to medical errors that were preventable. And the estimation of annual costs for medical errors which result in injury is between $17 billion and $29 billion each year, with half of that figure being represented by health care costs.
One study found that 51.7% of emergency room related malpractice lawsuits involved the following words: misdiagnose, delayed diagnosis, or failure to diagnose.
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.
What most people do not realize is that the premiums charged by the insurance companies has nothing to do with losses paid, but instead rise and fall with the state of the economy. When the economy is doing well, companies maintain their premiums at modest levels; however when the economy falters, companies increase premiums in response.
If you or a loved one were injured by medical malpractice, you should contact an attorney immediately because generally you only have a short time from the date of the incident within which to file a malpractice claim. The extensive experience and dedication of the attorneys at Schuler, Halvorson and Weisser, P.A. in the area of medical malpractice will assist you in obtaining a successful conclusion to your case.
