Information and Insight for Injured Iowans

When proceeding with a medical malpractice lawsuit, it is important to know the types of compensation that you or your family would be eligible for receiving. This can save time and can determine what types of documents you or your attorney may need to complete.
In each and every case, the injured patient has the burden of proving that he or she suffered harms caused by the malpractice. In Iowa, only certain types of harms are eligible for financial compensation. Those types of harms include:

• Past Medical Expenses: An injured patient may be entitled to be compensated for the cost of all reasonable and necessary medical treatment that was caused by malpractice. If that medical treatment has already been paid for, the party who for that treatment may be entitled to reimbursement.
• Future Medical Expenses: An injured patient may be entitled to be compensated for the cost of future medical treatment caused by the malpractice if the patient can produce expert testimony stating that specific medical treatment will likely be reasonable and necessary in the future.
• Past Lost Wages: An injured patient may be entitled to be compensated for his or her lost wages (or lost time away from a business) if malpractice causes the patient to be unable to work. Typically, lost wages will only be compensated if an injured patient can show that attempting to work after an injury was either impossible or against a doctor’s orders.
• Loss of Future Earning Capacity: If malpractice impacts a patient’s ability to work and earn money in the future, a patient can ask for compensation for the likely decrease in his of her ability to ear. Typically, recovering this type of compensation requires hiring an economic expert to review past employment records and tax returns in order to calculate likely future earnings.
• Past or Future Loss of Function of the Body and/or Mind: If malpractice causes a patient to lost normal function of his or her body or mind, the patient can seek compensation for this loss. While a claim can be made for temporary loss of function, for the reasons explained above, successful medical malpractice cases typically require a permanent disability of the body or mind.
• Past or Future Physical or Mental Pain and Suffering: If malpractice causes bodily suffering, discomfort, mental anguish or loss of enjoyment of life, an injured patient can seek compensation for these harms. In our experience, it is rarely possible to base a successful medical malpractice case solely upon temporary physical or mental pain and suffering.
• Past or Future Loss of Consortium: In Iowa, loss of consortium comes in two varieties- loss of spousal consortium and loss of parental consortium. Loss of spousal consortium recognizes the impact of an injury or death upon the relationship between husband and wife. Loss of parental consortium recognizes the impact of an injury or death upon the relationship between parent and child.
• Punitive Damages: Punitive damages are not intended to compensate for harm at all. They are designed to “punish” someone who has intentionally committed a wrongful act so that they will be discouraged from making a similar choice in the future. Punitive damages are rarely awarded in medical malpractice cases because an injured patient can rarely prove that a medical professional intended to injure a patient.

For more information about medical malpractice in Iowa, go to Iowa Medical Malpractice Facts to download a free 35-page guide.