When you get hurt, you may face expensive medical care. These bills should all be covered in a lawsuit at their reasonable cost. Having to get surgery to treat your injuries can therefore have a big effect on the settlement amount.
Surgical costs should be included in your personal injury claim like any other damages. These costs are usually claimed at their “reasonable” cost, rather than the value actually paid – but those values are typically the same thing. Needing surgery will also typically increase the pain and suffering damages in your case.
For help with your injury claim, call Rice Law’s Maryland personal injury attorneys at (410) 694-7291.
Can You Claim Damages for Surgery in a Settlement?
In a personal injury claim, you can claim a wide range of damages that does typically include surgical costs.
Damages You Can Claim
Most accident cases see victims claim both “economic” and “non-economic” damages in an injury case.
Economic damages typically cover things like
- Medical bills
- Lost wages
- Property damaged in the accident
- Other incidental costs at home (e.g., replacement services while you are healing)
Non-economic damages cover things like
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Mental anguish
Surgical Damages Available
The medical bills you can claim should cover any care needed to treat the injuries. This won’t pay for something like an annual checkup – which is unrelated to the accident – but it should cover
- Imaging
- Diagnoses
- Hospital stays
- Surgical costs
- Follow-up care
- Physical therapy
- And more.
How Are Surgical Costs Calculated in an Injury Claim?
Courts calculate medical damages a specific way, potentially limiting how much you can claim.
Reasonable Cost
Most damages are claimed at their “reasonable cost.” This means that you do not look at what you were literally charged or what you literally paid, but you rather propose what the reasonable cost of such treatment is.
This may allow the insurance company or defendant to try to argue down the cost of the treatment, saying it wasn’t worth as much as you were charged.
This Usually Covers Total Cost
Unless your doctor was price gouging you, the amount you were actually billed usually will be the same as the reasonable cost. This generally allows you to get every dollar billed to you covered through a settlement.
Calculating Pain and Suffering When Surgery is Needed
“Pain and suffering” damages are damages paid to account for the intangible harms that naturally flow from an injury. This pays you money for things like your pain, discomfort, and emotional distress.
More Serious Injuries Need Surgery
Surgery is typically only needed for injuries that are more serious to start with, meaning the pain and suffering should be higher to reflect that more serious injury.
Surgery Adds Pain and Suffering
Surgery itself also leads to additional hassles you have to deal with, surgical site pain, potential infection, and a longer healing process.
During that healing time, you might also have restrictions that prevent you from doing activities you enjoy. All of this is accounted for in the value of pain and suffering.
Do You Use Your Insurance?
When you get injured by someone else and get medical care, they will often ask you at the hospital if you are seeking treatment because of an accident. When this happens, you might not bill your health insurance.
Car Insurance
Hospitals are often set up to bill third-party insurance, such as car insurance. You might have your own car insurance that can start to cover medical bills, and the rest might be put on hold, with the hospital expecting the third-party defendant to pay them.
Health Insurance
You might be able to use your health insurance, but it probably will not cover everything. This could leave you with out-of-pocket costs that are still billed to you directly – costs you will still need to recover later in a lawsuit.
How Do You Afford Surgery if You Haven’t Settled the Case Yet?
Doctors and hospitals understand that treatment expenses after a serious accident are often more than you can afford, and that you probably will not be paying them until you win or settle your case. This allows some wiggle room on the bills.
Letters of Protection
You may be able to give them a “letter of protection,” which is essentially a promise to pay the care provider from your winnings. If they accept this, they hold off on billing you until you win.
Payment Plans
You may also be able to work out a payment plan that can delay your full payments and allow you to keep the bills from damaging your credit score. Then, you start paying the bills down while awaiting a settlement that pays the rest and pays you back for what you already spent.
Is the Settlement Offer Enough?
Personal injury settlements might not be enough, so always work with a lawyer.
Initial Offers
The first offer the defendant’s insurance makes is usually too low to cover your needs. It might not even cover your surgical costs, let alone the full cost of treatment.
It is often best to reject this.
Negotiations
Our lawyers can then negotiate your claim with the defendant and their insurance. This might bring up the offer, but we can also take the case to court and work towards a trial to put additional pressure on the negotiations.
Calculating Damages
Make sure to have your lawyers calculate damages themselves. This gives you a number to aim for in negotiations and helps keep you from being taken advantage of by the insurance company’s calculations.
What Happens if You Receive Negligent Surgical Care After an Accident?
Negligent medical care sometimes happens during treatment after an accident, allowing additional damages.
Medical Malpractice Defined
The care must constitute medical malpractice for you to get damages. This means that the care fell below the standard of care, often because the doctor made mistakes or did not use the proper care or skill required.
Original Defendant Responsible
Instead of suing the doctor in a separate case, you can often include medical malpractice damages after an accident in the original personal injury lawsuit. Essentially, malpractice and negligent care are seen as reasonably foreseeable outcomes after someone gets hurt, and therefore those damages can be pinned on the original defendant who caused your accident.
How Long Do You Have to Settle Your Case?
Maryland law gives victims 3 years to file an injury case, starting on the date of injury. Settlement negotiations and a potential trial can take as much time as needed after that point; there is no deadline to settle.
However, you do not get paid until you settle or win at trial, so you typically want to settle as soon as you can. Never accept a settlement offer until you review it with your lawyer and see that it is sufficient for your case.
Call Our Personal Injury Lawyers in Maryland Today
Call Rice Law’s Baltimore, MD personal injury lawyers at (410) 694-7291 for a free review of your case.