When you go to the hospital, you expect to be treated by trusted healthcare professionals who will give you the care you need. Hospital negligence can impact your treatment and also cost you both financially and emotionally. Victims of hospital negligence can face long-term health issues, an impact on the ability to work, and stress about mounting medical bills.
What Are the Financial Costs of Hospital Negligence?
Beyond immediate medical expenses related to hospital negligence, there are future costs to consider. These expenses may include surgeries, hospital stays, specialized treatment, and rehabilitation. Costs of these treatments can leave even financially prepared families with an unexpected financial burden, placing them at the forefront of hardship.
Additional follow-up care that you may require includes physical therapy, medication, or follow-up doctor’s visits to monitor your recovery progress. If your condition is severe enough, you may be left unable to work while you recover, losing wages for that time period. Losing your wages may also impact your ability to pay your normal monthly bills or obligations, leading to economic hardship.
While trying to recover financial compensation from the hospital, you may also encounter legal fees. Even though many lawyers work on a contingency fee basis, only getting paid if you do, there are still case fees to consider. For many medical malpractice cases, you may need to hire medical experts to give testimony, pay for a thorough investigation, and pay any court fees when filing your case if it cannot be resolved through a settlement.
The costs of hospital negligence go beyond the initial medical bills to long term treatment, legal fees, lost income, and getting behind on your normal monthly expenses. Lawyers for negligence in hospitals will take all of these costs into consideration to calculate the true value of your claim when pursuing compensation.
The Emotional Costs of Hospital Negligence
Although the financial burdens after hospital negligence might be more obvious, it is important not to overlook the emotional costs of being a victim of medical malpractice. When you go to the hospital, you trust your healthcare providers to treat you with the standard of care, and when failing to do that can leave you feeling a range of emotions.
An immediate impact can be emotional trauma that arises out of the negligence itself. You may feel a sense of betrayal of the healthcare provider who was meant to treat your medical condition. Betrayal can leave you with anger, frustration, and a sense of helplessness. Especially if the negligence resulted in a worsening of your medical condition.
This emotional distress can also have long-term psychological impacts. Emotional distress after injuries caused by hospital negligence may include developing anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as you recover. All of these conditions can impact your daily life and your relationships with friends and family.
Loved ones who act as caregivers may also experience stress in their new responsibilities. The added emotional burden can lead to caregiver burnout and strain family relationships. The emotional costs of hospital negligence go beyond the initial negligence. It includes immediate trauma, long-term psychological impacts, and stress on familial relationships.
What Are the Legal Costs of Hospital Negligence?
The legal costs of hospital negligence may add another burden when you seek to recover compensation for your injuries. Medical malpractice cases are complex, and the legal process is often lengthy.
Understanding the fee structure of your hospital negligence lawyer is important prior to hiring him or her. Many lawyers work on a contingency fee basis, taking a percentage of the awarded or settled amount. There may be out-of-pocket expenses to pursue your case. The responsibility of these fees and when they will need to be paid should be explained to you before the legal process begins.
Another fee that should be taken into consideration is the cost of expert witnesses. These are professionals, who are often medical experts, who help to establish that negligence occurred and can helps support the harm that was caused. The use of expert testimony can help strengthen your case, but can be costly.
Court costs and administrative fees can also add to your legal expenses. Court costs and administrative fees consist of filing fees, obtaining medical records, and copies of depositions and transcripts.
Medical malpractice cases can take months or even years to be resolved, which can put a strain on your finances as you wait for compensation. During this legal process, your medical bills will continue to grow and your ability to work may be impacted, which can add to the burden.
If your case cannot be resolved through a settlement agreement, it may have to go to trail. This can be an expense process as it includes the costs of trial preparation. Trial preparation consists of investigating and gathering evidence to support your case, hiring expert witnesses to give testimony, and courtroom appearances.
Societal Costs of Hospital Negligence
The impacts of hospital negligence can go beyond just you and your family. It can impact the broader community and its trust in the healthcare system. Medical errors undermine the public’s trust in their healthcare institution’s ability to treat patients.
Another societal cost is the strain on the healthcare system. Additional treatment for hospital negligence can include extended hospitals stays, which can divert resources from other patients. This may include longer wait times for limited services.
The workforce inside the hospital can also feel the impact of hospital negligence. Any healthcare professional involved in the medical malpractice case may face repercussion for his or her actions, loss of licenses, or even legal consequences. Putting more strain on the remaining workforce, leading to burnout and a reduction in quality of care provided to patients.
If the public perception of the hospital suffers, it can also lead to patients being hesitant to seek out their medical services. Which may lead to a delay in getting diagnosed or receiving treatment. In some cases, this delay may cause preventable conditions to go untreated, or be treated too late.