Pleasant Law Blog (Insurance Claims, Medical Misakes, and Nursing Home Claims)

Cost of Medical Care for Injured, But Surviving, Victims of Medical Negligence

By North Carolina Injury and Wrongful Death Attorney Thomas Pleasant. A $25 Million jury award in the northeast reflects why, in some cases, economic damages can be extremely high. http://www.nj.com/timesoftrenton/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-15/1225425982210880.xml&coll=5 ).  This medical malpractice failure to diagnose case involved brain damage injuries resulting from the failure to diagnose a brain aneurysm, which ended up not killing the patient, but impairing his brain function severely. Caring for a severely brain-injured person can involve astronomical medical expenses, and the jury’s verdict, no doubt, reflected the amount shown to be necessary to care for this victim of medical negligence. In cases such as these, generally a “life care planner” will testify as to the injured victim’s future medical care and expense needs. This particular medical malpractice victim will, for one thing, require 24-hour a day skilled nursing home care. As I have mentioned in other blog entries (see my "Personal Injury and Wrongful Death" blog at http://www.pleasantlaw.com/blog/?catid=564, attorneys handling medical negligence and mistake cases against doctors, hospitals, nurses, and other healthcare providers understand why verdicts can be so high; unfortunately, many people misunderstand and fall into the hands of those arguing for “tort reform.”  The jury obviously understood why so much money was necessary in this case in order to make up for the harms and losses of this injured victim. Many people mistakenly think that juries are more likely to include large amounts of money in their verdicts when someone has been wrongfully killed by medical mistakes or negligence (a “wrongful death” lawsuit”); but the reality is that the amount of money for harms and losses for an injured, but surviving, victim is often more. Again, this is due to the high cost of future medical expenses and care. If you have questions about a North Carolina wrongful death or injury case or lawsuit, whether related to medical care or nursing home care in North Carolina, contact my office for a free consultation. We will come to you, no matter where you are in North Carolina, in the appropriate cases. We also offer consultations in our Fayetteville, Wilmington, and Raleigh North Carolina Sattellite locations. For more information, please visit:

http://www.pleasantlaw.com/

 

http://www.pleasantlaw.com/practice_areas/medical-negligence-mistakes-and-malpractice.cfm

 

http://www.pleasantlaw.com/practice_areas/nursing-home-abuse-neglect1.cfm