Compensation flowing from medical negligence really depends on the impacts or the severity of the injury sustained by the patient. Every patient who’s harmed by medical negligence, at the very least, is entitled to receive compensation for their pain and suffering or loss of enjoyment of life. That’s a baseline that every patient is entitled to. In addition to that, depending on the severity of the injury, patient will be entitled to compensation flowing from the impact of the injury on their functioning. For example, does the injury prevent the patient from working at the same capacity they were before the medical treatment? Does the injury impact that patient’s ability to do, you know, household chores, things of that nature? In addition to those individual harms, patients who successfully advance a medical negligence case are entitled to reimbursement towards their legal costs.
They’re entitled to be compensated for the cost required to prove the case. If the impact of the medical negligence impacts a patient’s ability to work, then the insurer of doctors has to pay for the difference between what that patient would have earned absent the harm versus what they will earn with the harm. So if, as a result of… a patient’s only able to work part-time, they’d be entitled to that difference. If a patient is off work full-time, they’re being… total full income loss for the years that they wouldn’t be able to work.
