LOUISVILLE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ATTORNEYS

Have you suffered an injury or has someone you love passed away due to a health care provider’s error? If so, you might be eligible for substantial compensation by means of a medical malpractice lawsuit. However, there are a few things you should take note of before you begin.

• Kentucky only gives you one year from the date of injury (or date you discovered the injury) to file a medical malpractice claim.
• Kentucky does not have damage caps.

What does this mean for you as a victim? It means you could be in line for a large settlement, but that to protect your right to recover substantial compensation, you need to act fast. The Louisville medical malpractice lawyers at Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers have a successful history of recovering compensation for injured clients. We can put that experience to work for you.

Call us today at 800-800-4600 for a free consultation.

At Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers, a Louisville personal injury attorney from our team can help. Over the past three decades, we have fought and won many medical malpractice cases, helping our clients recover substantial compensation, which has allowed them to put their lives back together.

During this time, we have become intimately familiar with how the legal process plays out in medical malpractice cases. We know that for your claim to be successful, it needs to demonstrate four things:

• The doctor or healthcare provider owed you a duty of care;
• They did not uphold this duty of care (known as violating the standard of care);
• Because of their failure, you or a loved one suffered an injury or death;
• You incurred economic or noneconomic damages as a result.

Duty of Care

First, a Louisville medical malpractice lawyer needs to show that a duty of care existed between the doctor or provider and you. In other words, the responsible party had an obligation to provide you with a certain level of care. We can do this by showing the existence of a doctor-patient relationship. Doing so can be as simple as presenting a bill from the office or an insurance statement showing where you paid the provider for treatment.

Failure of Duty

Second, a personal injury lawyer must prove that the doctor or provider failed to uphold their industry’s standard of care. We accomplish this by using the “reasonable person” standard, which compares the actions or lack of action by your doctor to what would be expected of a reasonable person in their position. If another doctor, acting reasonably, would have provided you with better care, then your doctor may have breached their duty to you.

For example, say you discovered your surgeon left a surgical sponge inside your body after a procedure you had done a few years ago. If an expert witness testifies that he and his team count their sponges before, during, and after a procedure to prevent this type of mistake, we can establish your doctor violated the standard of care.

Injury or Death

Third, a medical malpractice attorney needs to link your doctor’s failure to an injury you suffered or to your loved one’s injury or death. Here, the strength of our evidence is crucial. We, therefore, put substantial effort into gathering and organizing evidence to draw a clear, compelling connection between your doctor’s action (or lack of action) and the harm you or your loved one suffered.

Economic or Noneconomic Damages

Fourth, a Louisville personal injury attorney must link your injury, or the injury or death of your loved one, to specific damages that you have suffered. These damages can be economic, noneconomic, or both. Your total damages equal the value of your medical malpractice case — this is the amount for which we pursue the responsible party(s) and their insurer.

When it comes to success in a Kentucky medical malpractice lawsuit, going with the right legal team can make a big difference. If you choose a personal injury lawyer who does not have a lot of experience handling medical malpractice cases, you risk jeopardizing your right to recover compensation.

The team at Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers has over 100 years of combined experience handling all types of personal injury cases, including countless medical malpractice cases.

You might be eligible to receive compensation to cover both your economic and your noneconomic damages.

Economic Damages

Economic damages are those we can quantify in dollar terms. They involve actual financial depletion. For instance:

• Current and future medical bills;
• Lost wages;
• Reduced earning capacity;
• Emergency transportation costs;
• Prescription medications;
• Home modifications (e.g., wheelchair ramps).

Noneconomic Damages

Noneconomic damages refer to those that do not involve actual financial losses. However, these damages are still compensable, and many of our clients have received substantial awards to cover noneconomic losses. These might include:

• Pain and suffering;
• Emotional anguish;
• Loss of enjoyment of life;
• Scarring and disfigurement.

We will also look into whether your case might qualify for punitive damages. If the doctor or provider’s actions exceeded negligence or carelessness and were malicious or grossly reckless, the judge will often award additional compensation as a punishment to the defendant.