Idaho MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWSUITS

Idaho medical malpractice lawsuits may cover a wide variety of medical blunders – from misdiagnoses to prescribing the wrong medicine or even failing to share adequate information with a patient. Not all are as shocking as amputating the wrong limb or leaving a surgical instrument inside the patient’s body, but they do all share three characteristics:

• medical malpractice, it is important to realize, is not the same as a good-faith mistake;
• in addition, no matter how badly injured a patient is, there may be limits on the potential financial recovery, and
• time limits are critically important.

IDAHO MEDICAL MALPRACTICE DAMAGES

In Idaho, injured patients and families may recover money damages for things like medical expenses and lost wages. These are referred to as “economic damages” and are not subject to any limits.
In addition, plaintiffs may recover “non-economic damages” for things like pain, suffering and losing the ability to enjoy life. The Idaho legislature has adopted a limit of $250,000 on non-economic damages, but it is adjusted each year based upon the average wage increase.

Finally, in very rare cases, a court may award “punitive damages” where a plaintiff has been able to show that the harm was the result oppressive, fraudulent, malicious or outrageous conduct on the part of the defendant doctor or hospital. Punitive damages are limited to three times the sum of economic and non-economic damages or $250,000 whichever is greater.
Maximizing your total recovery is the work of a qualified legal team. Good legal representation can make all the difference.

PROVING IDAHO MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Doctors and hospitals, rehab facilities and visiting nurses – they all make mistakes. Sadly, it happens.
A mistake is not the same as medical malpractice, however.  In Idaho, to prove medical malpractice a plaintiff must show four things:

• The existence of a doctor-patient relationship between the plaintiff and defendants;
• The medical professional’s actions fell short of the commonly accepted medical standard for that condition in that community and at the time the injury occurred;
• The patient’s injury was caused by this failure, and not some other intervening cause; and
• The patient was actually injured because of the failure.

Idaho medical malpractice cases depend heavily on expert testimony about what the prevailing standard of care is – what a reasonable and competent doctor or medical organization would have done in the same circumstance. Because local doctors are often reluctant to testify against a colleague, finding a qualified expert can be a daunting challenge, so it is especially important to have an experienced medical malpractice attorney. They can often draw on a deeper bench of experts.

IDAHO COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE STANDARD

Bad medical results may have more than one cause. For example, an obstetrician may have failed to deliver a baby by Caesarian section in order to prevent foreseeable injury. But the baby’s distress might have been discovered if the lab test results had not been botched and if the mother had not missed her scheduled appointments. Calamities have a way of cascading.

Idaho has adopted a comparative negligence standard that may reduce the amount a plaintiff can recover if he or she is partially at fault for an injury.  If the injury was partially the plaintiff’s fault, the plaintiff can still generally recover some damages, unless the fault is equally shared or the plaintiff is more responsible than the medical provider for the harm suffered. Then the plaintiff gets nothing.

IDAHO MEDICAL MALPRACTICE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS

In Idaho, the time limit within which a medical malpractice lawsuit must be filed is two years from the date of the injury. There are exceptions, however.
If the lawsuit involves a foreign object left in the patient’s body, the two-year countdown begins on the date the patient knew or should have known about it. The beginning of the time period may also be delayed (or tolled) in cases involving children under the age of 18 at the time the injury occurred. In those cases, the time period begins to run on the minor’s eighteenth birthday.

PRE-LITIGATION SCREENING            

Idaho law requires that claims for medical malpractice go through the pre-litigation screening process. The hearing that follows the filing of an application is fairly informal and does not prevent a plaintiff from filing a claim, even if the panel makes an adverse decision.
 

Idaho MEDICAL MALPRACTICE Legal Help

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Published on Sep-4-20