How Are Birth Injury Settlements Calculated in Rhode Island?

How is the settlement amount of a birth injury lawsuit calculated? Birth injury compensation is calculated by reviewing the various ways the family‘s lives have been affected.

Not only will your Rhode Island birth injury lawyer need to take into consideration the severity of the newborn’s injuries, but we will also need to consider the emotional and financial implications as well. 

There are a couple of different methods your legal representative can use to determine how much compensation you might be awarded in a birth injury lawsuit. Keep in mind that multiple factors can influence the amount of compensation that is available in your case. 

Here is more about how the settlement amount of a birth injury lawsuit is calculated and the types of damages that can be awarded in birth injury and medical malpractice claims.

What Determines the Value of Birth Injury Compensation?

The amount of compensation you can receive in a birth injury settlement depends on multiple factors. Every person’s case is different. The types of damages your family experienced, the severity of your newborn’s injuries, the anticipated impact of your newborn’s birth injuries over the course of their lives, and more should all be taken into account when determining the value of your claim. 

Our Rhode Island medical malpractice lawyers pay close attention to the extent of the injuries, the availability of insurance coverage, and whether multiple healthcare providers could share liability for your family’s damages. 

This will help us prepare for your possible birth injury settlement. Here is more about how we weigh these factors and how they could have an influence on your ability to pursue your claim and recover the compensation your family is entitled to.

The Severity of the Injury

The extent of your newborn’s birth injury will have a significant impact on the amount of compensation your family could be entitled to. If your child is injured but heals quickly and is able to reach their developmental milestones as they or grow up, the amount of compensation you could expect would be significantly less than a family who has struggled to cope with severe developmental delays or permanent disability as a result of healthcare provider negligence.

We also need to take into consideration the future impact of the birth injury. If your child is permanently disabled or suffers from severe cognitive delays, they may continue to require ongoing medical treatment or home healthcare services as they age.

We want to be sure to consider these future medical expenses and potentially the cost of assisted-living facilities as well when calculating the potential value of your birth injury settlement.

The Ability to File an Insurance Claim

Most healthcare providers are protected by malpractice insurance as required by RI Gen. Laws § 42-14.1-2(a). If you are filing a claim against an obstetrician, midwife, pediatrician, or hospital, you should be able to file a claim against their malpractice insurance policy. 

However, any damages the insurance company does not pay for can be demanded through a medical malpractice lawsuit in civil court.

Common Types of Recoverable Damages in Birth Injury Settlements

Your Rhode Island personal injury lawyer will need to sit down with you and your family to discuss the various damages your family has experienced after the birth injury.

You might have hoped to recover compensation for your medical bills and the cost of your future expenses, but there are a variety of economic and non-economic damages you could recover when you file a medical malpractice insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit.

Examples of such damages could include:

• Your family’s collective and individual pain and suffering
• Your child’s current, ongoing, and future medical expenses
• The cost of your child’s future assisted living costs
• Emotional trauma, mental anguish, and distress caused by the injury
• Your child’s disfigurement, permanent disability, or skin scarring
• Your loss of income, employee benefits, and future earning potential

In some birth injury cases, punitive damages are also a possibility. Generally, punitive damages would not be awarded unless the defendant intended to cause the birth injury or was grossly negligent according to RI Gen. Laws § 10-7-7.1. 

For instance, if your healthcare provider was intoxicated while you were in labor and their impairment caused your child’s birth injury, punitive damages may be appropriate.

Ways to Calculate How Much Your Birth Injury Lawsuit is Worth

There are two primary ways our team can calculate how much your birth injury settlement is worth. Our team will likely use both methods to get the most accurate evaluation possible. These methods include:

The Per Diem Method

With the per diem method, we assign the non–economic damages a daily rate. We then multiply that daily rate by the number of days you have or are expected to suffer from these losses. For example, let’s say we assigned your injuries a per diem rate of $300.

 If you were dealing with the non-economic damages for 25 years, we would multiply $300 by 9,125 days to get over $2.7 million in non-economic damages. We would add this number to the value of your economic damages to get the value of your birth injury settlement. 

The Multiplier Method

With the multiplier method, we calculate the value of your economic damages and then multiply your economic damages by the multiplier you have been assigned. The multiplier generally ranges from one to five, with one indicating a low level of severity and five indicating the highest level of severity. For example, let’s say we assigned your injuries a multiplier of 4.5.

If your economic damages were valued at $2.5 million, we would multiply 2,500,000 x 4.5 to get $11.25 million in non-economic damages. We would then add that $11.25 million to your existing $2.5 million in economic damages to get the value of your birth injury claim. In this example, your birth injury settlement would be worth $13.75 million.

Connect With a Dedicated Birth Injury Attorney for Help Today

With so many factors contributing to the amount of compensation you could be awarded in your birth injury lawsuit, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and confused.

However, when you have the right birth injury lawyer advocating for your family’s rights, you can demand the fair compensation your family is entitled to. Birth injuries have lifelong and permanent implications that should be answered for.

A highly experienced personal injury attorney from Gemma Law may be able to help your family maximize the value of your birth injury settlement. The settlement amount of your birth injury lawsuit should be calculated using multiple methods to ensure we have accounted for every loss.

Put our 100+ years of combined trial experience to work for you and your family when you contact our office to request a free, no-obligation consultation.