A medical professional’s work week can be incredibly taxing. With shifts panning over twelve to thirteen hours a day, the influx of patients and staffing needs means that it’s possible for a medical professional to make the wrong call.
For those who have experienced such an incident, Australian law offers the facility of filing medical negligence claims. However, the main question that arises here is what’s the payout for medical negligence in the country?
What is Medical Negligence?
Before we move on to the payout for medical negligence, let’s first establish what the term actually means. One thing is for certain, in other professions, making mistakes can be forgiven but when it comes to medicine, the margin of error must be small because a lot is at stake.
When you avail healthcare services, medical professionals owe you a certain standard of care, and when that standard is breached, we can term it as medical negligence. It is fundamental to note here that medical negligence has set an expectation that a competent, experienced and skilled medical practitioner must provide an equal level of care within the medical community. If this is violated, then they will be liable for negligence, which means that there is a payout for medical negligence.
If a person successfully proves medical negligence and how it negatively impacted their quality of life, then a payout for medical negligence is certain, but the question still stands, how much? Well, let’s talk about it.
Average payout for medical negligence in Australia
The payout for medical negligence in Australia can vary and depends on a series of factors, but the most primary one is the level of your injury. The more you were impacted by the inconsistency in medical care, the more you are set to receive in the payout.
If you are unable to return to your professional life or have severe trauma from the incident, your payout for medical negligence will be greater than in other situations where, for example, the time of recovery may be short. While determining the payout for medical negligence, the few factors are considered:
• Ability to return to professional settings, like work or career
• Lifestyle, salary and age of the person
• To what extent the permanent disability has been endured
• Magnitude of economic loss
• Wrongful death
• Medical expenses in past and future
• Medical treatment
• Pain and suffering
It is important to note here that if you encounter a whole-person impairment of 5% or more, the insurer will provide you with the insurance. On the other
hand, non-economic coverage for a psychological or trauma-related injury, you need to prove 10% or more impairment.
The payout for medical negligence in Australia can vary from one state to the other.
Although the average payout for medical negligence varies each year, cases that involve misdiagnosis and treatment failure average over $230,000 to compensate for the general damages. This is for NSW.
In Victoria, negligence payouts can range from $50,000 to hundreds of thousands, depending on the victim. In Queensland, the payout falls between $40,000 to hundreds of thousands. However, Queensland medical facilities offer an NDA (nondisclosure agreement) before moving on from a negligence or malpractice case.
A majority of payout for medical negligence claims are less than $100,000 but there have been cases where plaintiffs have earned way more than that. In fact, a mother of a man who was left in a ‘minimally conscious state’ after receiving treatment at two Queensland hospitals revealed that her son was awarded around $10 million in compensation.
Getting the most out of your payout for medical negligence claims
It is evident that the defendant will try to get away by paying as little as possible in compensation. In such cases, individuals need to file a strong claim and file proper evidence to strengthen their case. If a person has experienced a great deal of injury, they are set to get more in terms of compensation, which is why, organizing strong evidence and building a coherent case has to be essential.
Lawyers are essential to get the most out of your payout for a medical negligence claim. Usually, the compensation claim takes a few months to settle. Depending on the complexity of the case, it can take anywhere between three months to two years. However, it also depends on the lawyer you hire and how good they are at what they do.
Read more: What Evidence Do You Need for a Medical Negligence Claim?
The payout for medical negligence claims in Australia can vary on many factors. It depends on the extent and extremity of the injury one has endured as a result of inconsistent medical treatment. It is also important to keep in mind what percentage of medical negligence claims are successful and the plaintiff is awarded compensation. Around 59% of medical negligence claims in Australia are successful. This percentage includes the claims settled both in and out of court, and only 3% of these cases were settled by a court decision.
