Average Medical Malpractice Settlement in Georgia (2024)

Hospitals handle critical situations and save lives. Despite this, there are times when doctors or healthcare professionals make life-altering mistakes. If you suspect you or someone you love may be suffering due to an error made by a doctor or healthcare professional, you may wonder about your rights and the average medical malpractice settlement amount in Georgia.

Due to the difference in severity of medical malpractice cases, the amount can vary significantly. It may be wise to have a medical malpractice attorney review your case.

Simple Mistake vs. Medical Malpractice

The main difference between simple mistakes and medical malpractice is the degree to which the patient’s life is negatively affected due to the error.

Mistakes happen. A healthcare professional reading out something incorrectly but adjusting themselves when a patient asks for more information is a simple mistake. Simple mistakes may be inconvenient, but they don’t warrant a legal claim. Medical malpractice cases don’t come from simple mistakes such as this. Malpractice claims come when a doctor or healthcare professional causes life-impacting harm to a patient due to an avoidable error.

What to Do if You Suspect Medical Malpractice

If you believe a doctor or health care professional made an unacceptable medical error while treating you, you can take steps to set yourself up for pursuing a legal claim.

• Keep medical records and bills: Holding onto any medical records and statements from the care you received is vital. Having these documents ensures you have as much of a paper trail as possible and will assist in proving the legitimacy of your claim.
• Write the details down: Describing everything you remember about your treatment and medical error ensures your story is documented. Your explanation and reasoning are essential to determining who is at fault. While it is a requirement that these elements are in writing, it can also give you peace of mind that you don’t have to retell these aspects from memory constantly.
• Document the aftermath: An ongoing collection of how the medical error has affected your life is crucial in determining your settlement if or when that time comes. You should note your pain, sleeplessness, and anything else that helps illustrate the medical error’s impact on your life.

Remember, a medical malpractice claim takes vast legal knowledge, so a lawyer’s assistance is essential. They can inform you about whether a claim may be worthwhile. It may be worth it if the error caused you significant harm or stress or created a new health problem. In these situations, the error has altered your life significantly.

A medical malpractice attorney can help you understand if your case is worth the time, energy, and cost. Suppose you believe a healthcare professional made an unacceptable error that caused you significant harm. In that case, having an attorney represent you and craft your case is a wise idea instead of trying to handle it on your own.

Common Medical Malpractice Types and Average Settlements

Sadly, medical malpractice is all too common. The most common medical malpractice is misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis. Other types of malpractice include medication errors, childbirth injuries, surgical mistakes, and anesthesia errors. Despite their differences, each type of medical malpractice takes an experienced attorney to navigate.

The average medical malpractice settlement is often higher than other personal injury settlements because the damages are usually much greater. The average payments per malpractice settlement tend to vary by type. While misdiagnosis, surgical errors, medication errors, and childbirth injuries can reach $1 million or above, negligent failure to treat, improper treatment, and nursing home abuse tend to reach the thousands of dollars range.

Factors such as sustained injury severity, medical treatment costs, pain and suffering, and lost income or wages influence settlement amounts. A medical malpractice attorney can help you determine the factors most important to your claim, pursue negotiations with insurance companies, and seek appropriate compensation in court, if applicable.

FAQs

Q: How Much Are Most Medical Malpractice Settlements?

A: There are over 12,000 medical malpractice claims annually, with the average medical malpractice settlement being in the lower hundreds of thousands of dollars range. This number includes every type of settlement.

The averages of individual malpractice claim types vary. The average settlement amount for a misdiagnosis is in the millions, while medication errors can range as low as $5,000 for a settlement.

Q: What Is the Malpractice Cap in Georgia?

A: Georgia’s medical malpractice cap applies to noneconomic damages encompassing areas like pain and suffering or other damages that may be difficult to quantify. For example, malpractice that leaves you with a traumatic injury would lead to more damages due to the severity.

The cap in Georgia is $350,000 if only one healthcare facility is at fault. This amount increases to $700,000 if multiple facilities are involved in a single case. If you bring multiple cases against multiple facilities, the overall cap is $1.05 million.

Q: What Is the Average Settlement for Medication Errors?

A: Unfortunately, medication errors happen commonly. Medication errors can be more than just prescribing the wrong medication; they can be failing to consider how potential drugs would react with each other. Medication error cases range from $5,000 to almost $5 million, depending on the claim’s specifics. The wide range is due to the differences in how a medication error can affect a patient’s life.

Q: What Is the Most Common Malpractice Suit?

A: The most common malpractice suit is misdiagnosis. A common error, misdiagnosis, is when a doctor doesn’t correctly assess the issues a patient is dealing with. While some of these situations may lead a patient to seek out another doctor and get a correct diagnosis, other cases become deadly when timing is essential for medical treatment. Due to the direct and sustained impact on one’s life and the frequency of misdiagnoses, this is the most common suit.

Contact Us Today

If you suspect that you or someone you love has been a victim of medical malpractice, time is of the essence in understanding your case and charting a path forward. Contact Spohrer Dodd Trial Attorneys to schedule your consultation today.