Columbia Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Fault

Kentucky applies a pure comparative fault standard to all personal injury cases, which includes medical malpractice cases. This standard allows for a percentage of fault to be assigned to each party in the case, which in turn is applicable to the verdicts. Under this standard, if the victim has any fault attributed to them, their award would be reduced.

Thus, the court can find that a physician committed malpractice during an out-patient surgical procedure, but the victim was 25% at fault for the extent of the injury suffered because she or he failed to follow post-procedure instructions.

In that case, if the victim is awarded $60,000, the award would be reduced to $45,000, which is the total awarded reduced by the percentage of fault attributable to the victim.

Damages

Damages are typically the financial award that is paid to a person to compensate them for their losses. In a medical malpractice case, compensatory damage awards may include, but are not limited to, costs associated with follow-up treatment necessitated by the injury suffered and loss of income, if the injury resulted in the victim being unable to work.

Additionally, unlike most jurisdictions, Kentucky does not limit non-economic damage awards, which means that the trier of fact can determine what the victim should be awarded for pain and suffering or mental anguish.

This potentially allows for greater awards for non-economic problems, such as sexual dysfunction that is caused by the injury, which may have negatively impacted the victim’s marriage, but had no financial impact on her or him.

Further, Kentucky allows a defendant to face punitive damages when the circumstances warrant punishment. Punitive damages are damage awards that exceed what the victim is entitled to as compensatory or non-economic damage awards.  Such damages extend to awards that are specifically designed to punish the other party.

Statute of Limitations

The statute of limitations refers to the time frame after a medical malpractice incident occurs that the victim has to file a complaint in court against the medical professional or entity. In Kentucky, the statute of limitations is one year after the cause of action occurred or five years from the date that the negligent act or omission occurred.

The cause of action is not necessarily the date of the incident; it is the date that the victim became aware of the accident or should have become aware if reasonable care had been applied.

Not all medical malpractice claims will result in the victim’s death or an immediate awareness that a problem exists, so the longer statute of limitations is designed to provide the victim with time to discover the error.

Talk to a Medical Malpractice Attorney Today

If you or a loved one suffered serious consequences from an injury due to the negligence of a doctor or some other medical personnel, then make sure to contact a Columbia medical malpractice lawyer right away to make sure that you get all the compensation that you are entitled to. Call us to make an appointment now.