Unnecessary Pain and Suffering Caused by Wrong Medication Stockton CA

I have terminal cancer and while I was in the hospital, I was given the wrong medication and suffered severe pain unnecessarily. Can I sue for pain and suffering in my medical malpractice lawsuit? How much is my malpractice suit worth?

The short answer is yes, you can sue. The long answer requires a little bit of discussion about medical malpractice in general. First off, if you have a personal injury case because a hospital or doctor or other health care provider was negligent in your treatment, it is called medical malpractice. Medical malpractice describes a scenario where the health provider did not provide treatment consistent with acceptable and customary practices of medicine. There are four requirements to a successful medical malpractice claim:

• The doctor or health care provider was responsible for treating you;
• They did not provide the required treatment or provided incorrect treatment;
• You were injured; or
• Your injury was caused by the failure of the health care provider to provide the required treatment

If you can prove these requisite elements, and show that you have been injured, you are entitled to damages.

Damages are awarded in the form of money to compensate the injured person for the injuries caused by the malpractice. There are two types of damages to which you may be entitled. First, economic damages, which are usually easily calculated, and include such losses as medical bills, costs of medicine, lost wages, etc. Then there are non-economic damages, which are more difficult to quantify. They include mainly damages for inconvenience, and pain and suffering.

Once you can establish that you have a medical malpractice case and can prove your economic losses, whether or not you will be able to recover non-economic damages will depend on where you are in the country. The medical community has been pushing for limitations on awards for pain and suffering due to what it claims is the high cost of malpractice insurance and the difficulty physicians have in obtaining it. Many states have already limited these awards or are about to.

A Colorado senate bill to raise the cap on non-economic damages from $300,000 to $450,000 died in the state's house of representatives in April 2008. A few months later, a Georgia trial court found the state's $350,000 award limit unconsitutional, while an Illinois court the previous Novemeber found that state's $500,000 limit impermissible. Beginning July 1, 2008, Virginia's economic and non-economic damages for medical malpractice capped at $2 million total. attorney in your area who is well-versed in medical malpractice law.

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