Sustaining injuries because of medical malpractice cases can result in significant financial damages. These economic damages include lost wages, medical bills, and out-of-pocket expenses. Most people are aware they can demand compensation for economic damages. However, victims of medical malpractice can also receive compensation for their non-economic damages, including diminished quality of life.
What Does Quality of Life Represent in a Medical Malpractice Case?
Quality of life can mean many different things. It includes a person’s mental, physical, and emotional health. It includes a person’s financial health and their overall enjoyment of life.
Individuals measure their quality of life differently. Some individuals may focus on their living conditions, resources, reputation, and wealth when they measure their quality of life. Other people may focus on personal achievements, relationships, and the ability to participate in specific activities.
Quality of life damages are subjective. The extent of the decrease in quality of life depends on numerous factors, including the type and extent of a person’s injuries and their quality of life before the injury.
How Do Injuries Caused by Medical Malpractice Diminish a Person’s Quality of Life?
Injuries can significantly impact all areas of your life. The injuries may prevent you from caring for your needs or your family. You may be unable to engage in activities you did before the injury.
Catastrophic injuries and permanent impairments impact a person’s life. However, any type of injury can impact quality of life. Examples of injuries that can reduce a person’s quality of life include:
- Brain injuries that result in cognitive, physical, or emotional impairments
- Amputations and loss of limbs
- Spinal cord injuries causing partial or total paralysis
- Losing your vision or hearing
- Crushed, fractured, and broken bones
- Neck and back injuries
- Sustaining severe burns
- Damage to internal organs and bodily functions
- Significant disfigurement and scarring
Injuries could have long-term, life-altering impacts on the injured party. The victim’s family may also sustain damages because of their loved one’s injuries. These and other injuries can impact your quality of life in various ways including, but not limited to:
- Anxiety and embarrassment about your condition or physical appearance caused by scarring, disfigurement, and/or disability
- Inability to care for your personal needs, including dressing, feeding, grooming, and bathing yourself
- Being unable to care for your children and family members
- Inability to participate in activities, sports, social events, and hobbies that you enjoyed before your injuries
- Loss of affection, society, and companionship with your spouse, partner, and other people
- Chronic and debilitating pain and suffering
- Inability to return to your job or perform any work that earns sufficient income to support yourself and your family
- Inability to engage in intimate relations and/or conceive a child
- Ongoing emotional distress and mental anguish, including chronic depression and PTSD
Injuries because of medical malpractice can change your life forever. If you were injured because of medical negligence or other wrongdoing, you could be entitled to compensation for diminished quality of life. An experienced Atlanta medical malpractice lawyer will work to maximize the value of your claim based on your damages.
How Much Is Diminished Quality of Life Worth in a Georgia Medical Malpractice Case?
Each person experiences injuries, pain, and suffering differently. The extent to which an injury decreases your quality of life depends on many factors. Putting a price on your suffering can be challenging.
The extent to which injuries impact your quality of life can be measured by analyzing various factors relevant to your quality of life. Those factors include, but are not limited to:
- Your current age
- Your overall health before and after the injuries
- The types of injuries you sustained
- Your personality and social standing
- The attempts you have made to mitigate the impact of the injuries on your quality of life, including improving your quality of life after recovering from your injuries
- Your education, skills, and work experience
- Testimony from your family and friends establishing your quality of life before and after your injuries
- Your physical appearance before and after the injuries
- The prognosis and opinion from your treating physician
- The types of ongoing medical treatment required for your condition and how those treatments could impact your quality of life
- Opinions and evidence from expert witnesses, including medical specialists, vocational experts, and others
Determining diminished value can be challenging because no standard monetary value is assigned to the damages. The multiplier method is a common way to determine the value of non-economic damages, including diminished quality of life.
A number between 1.5 and five (the multiplier) is chosen based on an analysis of the factors in the case. The multiplier increases as the severity of the impact your injuries have on your quality of life increases. Your economic damages (financial losses) are multiplied by the multiplier to determine the value of non-economic damages.
How Can an Atlanta Medical Malpractice Lawyer Help?
Insurance companies and defense lawyers downplay the impact injuries have on quality of life. An experienced Atlanta medical malpractice lawyer from Malone Law Medical Malpractice and Severe Injury Lawyers understands how to value damages to maximize recovery. If you have questions about a medical malpractice lawsuit or need help, you might want to consider contacting us at (770) 390-7550 to schedule a free consultation with an attorney.