Medical Malpractice in Colorado

Options for when you’re injured by a health care professional

What is negligence?

Negligence is the foundation of personal injury cases, and victims have to prove it if they want to receive damages. There are four elements that must be established.

Let’s say you went to the doctor with a spinal fusion that was breaking down. Your doctor decided that the pain traveling down your arms was actually a pinched nerve in your elbows, not in your neck at the C6-C7 spinal region. Later in the week, your fusion starts to break down completely, leaving you with intractable spinal pain that radiates down your arms. You can no longer pick up objects or use your hands.

• Duty: Once the doctor/patient relationship was established, the health care provider owed you a duty of care. This duty required your doctor to act like any other doctor would in that same situation, and he was required to follow accepted medical practices that are considered standard in the field. In this instance, you went to your doctor’s office, submitted personal information so that you could be admitted, and had a medical exam. This established the relationship and duty of care. The doctor was then obligated to act like any other doctor would in that situation.
• Injury: You must suffer an injury because of the actions of the physician. Here, you definitely became injured because of the doctor’s actions. To win a medical malpractice suit, your attorney must prove that your doctor directly caused your injuries.

• Breach:  Once the duty of care is established, your physician must exercise reasonable care and treat you like any other doctor would. He must follow common procedures. Here, the duty was breached when the doctor misdiagnosed the fusion’s breakdown, which led to your intractable spinal pain and arms becoming useless.
• Damages: Your attorney must prove that the patient suffered economic and non-economic damages from the injury. In this instance, you accumulated significant medical bills that would not have been there without the fusion’s breakdown. You have further costs from missing work, as well as travel and lodging costs. You need additional surgeries to fix the fusion. You have significant non-tangible costs, such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of consortium.

For the medical professional to be found negligent, your attorney must show that his or her conduct fell below the “accepted standard” of medical care, so having experts testify will help as well.

Caps on damages in Colorado

Let’s discuss damages. There are two types of damages in personal injury cases:

• Non-economic (general) damages: loss of enjoyment, physical and mental pain or suffering, emotional distress
• Economic (special) damages: medical bills, lost wages, other tangible bills
• Punitive damages: damages designed to punish the health care provider for reckless and negligent acts
• Non-economic damages: $250,000 plus inflation

• EXCEPTIONS: if there is clear and convincing evidence that an increase is justified, damages for permanent physical impairment, or medical malpractice
• Medical malpractice: $1,000,000 total damages, of which no more than $300,000 may be for pain and suffering
• EXCEPTIONS: if it can be shown that $1,000,000 is an unfair award

Colorado has instituted caps on these types of damages. This means that no matter how emotionally swayed a jury is, they cannot award a plaintiff damages more than what the caps allow.