When healthcare providers fail in their duty of care toward you, the results can be devastating. Sustaining an injury after a medical error can lead to high financial and personal costs where your recovery should not be capped by a set limit.
In Kentucky, the law offers strong protections that stop lawmakers from capping the damages a jury can award in medical malpractice cases. Understanding your rights to fair compensation is the first step toward recouping the true cost of the harm you have endured.
The constitutional shield
Kentucky law prohibits the state legislature from limiting the amount of damages a person can recover for injury or death. This ensures that a jury of peers determines the value of a victim’s life, health and suffering instead of a previously set government limit.
Types of compensation available
In a medical malpractice claim, there are generally three categories for damages. You may recover the following:
- Economic damages: Tangible, financial losses resulting from the injury
- Noneconomic damages: Personal and emotional harm with no specific dollar value
- Punitive damages: Additional compensation awarded in rare cases of gross negligence to punish the at-fault party
Seeking full compensation can be important because medical mistakes may cause lifelong disabilities or require 24/7 care. Since Kentucky has no caps, you can pursue an amount that matches the true cost of the provider’s life-changing error.
What can affect your payout
Kentucky uses a pure comparative negligence rule in medical malpractice cases. If a jury decides you share some blame for the outcome, your compensation is reduced by that percentage. For example, if your damages are $100,000 and your fault percentage is 30%, you would receive $70,000.
While private doctors and hospitals face no caps, negligence claims against state-run institutions or state employees must go through the Kentucky Board of Claims. These specific claims have a strict limit of $250,000 per individual and a maximum of $400,000 for multiple claims from a single incident. Additionally, you generally have one year from the date the injury occurred, or the date you should have reasonably discovered it, to file a lawsuit.
Enforcing higher care standards
Pursuing a medical malpractice claim is not just about getting financial support. It is also about holding those at fault responsible and helping prevent the same thing from happening again. A lawyer can explain what compensation you may qualify for and advocate for you through the legal process.