Video Transcript: Compensation for Medical Malpractice Victims

Hello. I’m Kenneth Watkins, a senior shareholder and trial attorney at Sommers Schwartz law firm. For more than 22 years, I’ve represented victims of medical errors and other injuries. A life changing injury or the death of a family member can have a devastating, financial impact. When the injury happens as a result of medical malpractice, the law provides for various types of compensation.

• Non-economic damages compensate victims for physical and mental harm they’ve experienced and the ongoing pain and suffering they might endure.
• Economic, or compensatory damages, compensate plaintiffs for loss of wages and income along with medical costs and related expenses.
• An injured party may also recover damages for loss of earning capacity as well as diminished opportunities for advancement, reduced effectiveness at work, lost fringe benefits, and lost partnership earnings.

In Michigan there is a cap on the amount of money a plaintiff may recover for non-economic damages, a number that changes from year to year. While there is no cap on economic damages, Michigan does not allow damages designed solely to punish or make an example of a defendant– called punitive damages. Michigan Law does, however, recognize exemplary damages, but only to compensate a plaintiff for humiliation, sense of outrage, and indignity resulting from injuries maliciously, willfully, and wantonly inflicted by a defendant.

Medical errors that result in death must be pursued under Michigan’s Wrongful Death Act which allows for recovery of medical, funeral, and burial expenses along with loss of financial support, and loss of society and companionship of the deceased. To take a claim from initial investigation to successful recovery requires a team of attorneys who concentrate on medical malpractice like the lawyers at Sommers Schwartz. If you suspect that you’ve been a victim of medical malpractice, call us today to discuss your situation. We are expert litigators who get extraordinary results.