Jury Verdict Research has some interesting statistics on the value of different types of medical malpractice.
Malpractice cases are among the toughest to pick. We have taken great pride in getting verdicts and settlements in malpractice cases that other lawyers have summarily turned down. It really makes you feel super smart when that happens. But I know we have turned down many seven-figure malpractice cases in the last 10 years. Everyone approaches these cases from various angles and sometimes one malpractice attorney sees what another attorney
What These Malpractice Statistics Show?
This data provides two things: median verdict (as opposed to the average) and a probability range of a verdict. The probability range is a telling statistic. It charts the top and the bottom of the middle 50 percent of all awards.
Said differently, it is the 25th percentile and the 75th percentile of the malpractice verdicts in the survey. If you are an average lawyer, I think the median is a good number to use. But I think for the best malpractice lawyers who know how to pick the right cases and know how to try a good case, I think the 75th percentile is a better number to use.
But that comes with a lot of caveats. The biggest one: what you can get a jury to give you differs greatly from what you can collect in Maryland because of the cap on non-economic damages. We have tried a lot of wrongful death cases where you can’t even get to that 25th percentile because of the chasm between what a jury thinks is fair and what Maryland law.
Anyway, these are the numbers:
| Injury | Median | Probability Range |
| Death | $1,078,000 | $410,000 – $2,157,170 |
| Brain Damage | $4,687,500 | $2,000,000 – $12,297,500 |
| Genital | $500,000 | $200,000 – $1,295,000 |
| Cancer | $1,750,000 | $646,000 – $4,200,000 |
| Emotional Distress | $250,000 | $57,500 – $657,000 |
| Spinal Nerve | $1,229,092 | $693,750 – 2,300,000 |
| Eye | $750,000 | $206,756 – $2,727,878 |
| Leg | $1,050,000 | $560,188 – $2,875,000 |
| Overall | $927,500 | $270,746 – 2,500,000 |
Brain Damage from Birth Injuries
When you look at these numbers, it is not hard to see why our law firm focuses on birth injury cases. Our practice is moving more that way for two key reasons. First, the economics of birth injury brain damage cases can be lucrative because the economic damages are so high the cap on pain and suffering becomes more manageable. There is a flip side to this as a lawyer. We put $375,000 into the last birth injury case we settled with no guarantee of getting that money back, not to mention the countless hours we throw at these cases.
The Money REALLY Means Something
But it is not just the upside that draws us to birth injury cases. You really felt you are doing something important when you are fighting for a child who suffered a birth injury. As trite as it is to say, for most of us, money really does not buy happiness. I like getting victims justice in form of money when they lose a spouse, parent, or child. But the money does not really make them feel all that much better. But for a birth-injured child, the money really can change the quality of the child’s life and give the parents a security that their child will get the needed care long after they are gone.