In our previous post, we began speaking about non-economic damages in the context of medical malpractice litigation. Last time, we spoke about situations or reasons why noneconomic damages can be important in medical malpractice litigation: cases, for example, where the medical costs resulting from negligence are not particularly significant, and cases where the specific injury to the patient either is not intimately tied up with the patientâs ability to earn money or where the patientâs income at the time the injury occurred is not that significant.
Compensatory damages can be awarded for many different types of economic losses, and the more of these losses a patient has as a result of a physicianâs negligence, the better chance the patient will have, as a plaintiff, of being awarded a significant amount of compensatory damages in medical malpractice litigation.
The goal of medical malpractice litigation, of course, is to ensure that an injured patient receives the compensation he or she deserves, both when it comes to economic and non-economic damages. In cases where economic damages do not adequately reflect a patientâs loses, noneconomic damages are important to pursue.
Building a solid case for damages, particularly non-economic damages, is not necessarily an easy matter. Defendants in medical malpractice litigation are expected to argue that damages should be lower than the amount requested by the plaintiff, and will generally take advantage of every strategy possible to reduce or avoid responsibility. This is why it is so important to work with an experienced personal injury attorney to build a strong case, not only for liability on the claims, but also for damages.Â
