The unfortunate reality is that medical errors occur far more often than most people realize. These medical errors can have catastrophic consequences for patients, leaving them with permanent disabilities or even resulting in death.
If you were the victim of a medical error, you may be able to hold the healthcare provider financially responsible through a medical malpractice lawsuit. These lawsuits compensate victims when medical providers harm them by not adhering to the standard of care they are legally required to provide.
Contact Maring Williams Law Office for a free consultation with a knowledgeable and experienced medical malpractice lawyer. We’ll review your case and explain your options for seeking the compensation you need after an injury caused by a healthcare provider.
Medical malpractice doesn’t refer to just any medical treatment that harms the patient. Many treatments have possible adverse side effects, and the presence of those side effects, even if they cause serious injury, does not meet the definition of malpractice.
Malpractice occurs under specific circumstances in which the healthcare provider owes the patient a duty of care, breaches that duty, and injures the patient as a result. The duty of care that healthcare providers generally owe their patients is to provide adequate treatment in line with the applicable standard of care.
Examples of medical malpractice cases include:
Depending on the circumstances of your injury, various parties could be financially liable. And in some cases, there may be multiple parties that share liability, such as a doctor and the healthcare facility that employs them.
Parties that our medical malpractice lawyers can help you seek compensation from include:
As part of our initial investigation into the incident, we’ll identify the parties that contributed to your injuries. And we’ll gather multiple types of evidence to demonstrate how the at-fault party’s actions violated their duty of care and caused your injuries.
The evidence used in medical malpractice lawsuits serves multiple purposes. It must demonstrate the extent and severity of your injuries, the impact your injuries have on your life, and how the healthcare providers contributed to your injuries by breaching their duty of care.
Common types of evidence used in these cases include:
The compensation available to medical malpractice victims falls into two main categories. These are economic and non-economic damages. Damages are the compensation you seek for your losses caused by your injury. Losses are any negative impact your injury has on your finances or your life.
Economic damages specifically compensate victims for their losses with tangible value, including medical expenses, lost wages, and loss of future earning capacity. Non-economic damages compensate victims for their losses with intangible value, including pain and suffering, emotional distress, permanent disability, loss of enjoyment of life, and more.
In some rare cases, victims can also seek punitive damages. Rather than compensating victims for their losses, punitive damages punish at-fault parties for particularly egregious behavior, such as if a healthcare provider intentionally harms their patient.
Non-Economic Damages Caps
Some states limit the amount of non-economic compensation victims can recover through medical malpractice lawsuits. It’s essential to be aware of these caps, as they can significantly reduce the compensation you may receive from a single lawsuit, so it may be in your best interest to file separate lawsuits against multiple parties.
The non-economic damages cap in North Dakota is $500,000, while in Montana, it is $300,000. Minnesota does not have a non-economic damages cap.
The time limit for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit depends on the state where the medical error occurred.
In North Dakota, victims of medical malpractice have two years to file lawsuits against the healthcare providers who injured them. In Montana, victims also have two years to file lawsuits. However, in Minnesota, victims have four years to file lawsuits arising from medical malpractice.
Typically, the time limit for filing your lawsuit begins on the date of your injury. However, in many cases, patients don’t immediately realize they were the victim of medical malpractice. For example, you may not realize a medical tool was left in your body after surgery until an infection begins. Or you may not realize your doctor missed diagnosing you with a serious condition until it worsens.
In these cases, the time limit for filing a lawsuit generally begins when you become aware or reasonably should have become aware that you were the victim of malpractice.
What Is a Statute of Repose?
A statute of repose is a law that limits how much time can pass before victims can file lawsuits. However, it differs from a statute of limitations, which sets the baseline time limit.
For example, the statute of limitations for medical malpractice in North Dakota gives victims two years to file their lawsuits. However, the statute of repose states that a medical malpractice lawsuit cannot be brought more than six years after the incident.
In Montana, the statute of repose bars victims from filing medical malpractice lawsuits after five years have passed. In Minnesota, there is no statute of repose, only a statute of limitations.
Basically, the statute of limitations provides the time you have to file your lawsuit once you know you sustained an injury, while the statute of repose provides the maximum time you have to file your lawsuit under any circumstance.
To have a viable medical malpractice lawsuit, you must be able to prove four main elements:
Medical malpractice can take many forms, including improper treatment, failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis, and failure to warn a patient of known risks associated with a procedure. Specific examples include:
In certain circumstances, you may be able to file a malpractice lawsuit against a hospital. This depends on the practitioner’s relationship to the facility—for instance, whether they are an employee (like support staff, nurses, or medical technicians) or an independent contractor (as most physicians are). Just because malpractice occurred at a hospital does not automatically mean the hospital is legally responsible.
Because each case is different and can be complex, there is no single answer. Medical malpractice cases may take several months or several years to resolve after the lawsuit is filed.
The amount of compensation you may receive depends on the losses caused by your injury (damages). These typically fall into two categories:
Note that some states, like North Dakota and Montana, place caps on the amount of non-economic compensation victims can recover.
Were you injured by a medical provider in North Dakota, Minnesota, or Montana? Contact Maring Williams Law Office for a free consultation with a highly qualified medical malpractice attorney. During your initial consultation, we’ll review the incident that caused your injury, walk you through the steps involved in seeking compensation from the healthcare provider, and answer any questions you have about your case.
