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Connecticut Medical Malpractice Law - An Overview

By Aaron Larson

Law Offices of Aaron Larson

July, 2004

Important Notice: The following overview of Connecticut's medical malpractice laws is presented on an as-is basis. This information is believed accurate as of the date of authorship, but is not intended to provide a complete analysis of medical malpractice law and may not reflect subsequent changes in the law. For a full review of Connecticut's medical malpractice law, or for a determination of how the law applies to a specific incident or injury, please consult a malpractice lawyer licensed to practice in the state of Connecticut.

Contents

What Is Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice, sometimes referred to as medical negligence, occurs when a health care provider violates the governing standard of care when providing treatment to a patient, causing the patient to suffer an injury. Medical malpractice can result from an action taken by the medical practitioner, or by the failure to take a medically appropriate action. Examples of medical malpractice include:

  • Misdiagnosis of, or failure to diagnose , a disease or medical condition;
  • Failure to provide appropriate treatment for a medical condition;
  • Unreasonable delay in treating a diagnosed medical condition;

Medical malpractice actions can be brought by the injured patient against any responsible licensed health care provider, including doctors, counselors, psychologists and psychotherapists.

Limits on Malpractice Damages

Connecticut does not limit damages awards.

Collateral Source Rule

Under a traditional collateral source rule, a defendant may not seek to reduce its liability by introducing evidence that the plaintiff has received compensation from other sources, such as the plaintiff's own insurance coverage. For medical malpractice cases in Connecticut, there is mandatory reduction of an award by collateral source payments, but the plaintiff is credited for any premiums paid.

Rules for Expert Witnesses

An expert witness for a medical malpractice case must be a similar health care provider, or have sufficient training and experience in a similar field of medicine to that of the defendant. To testify as an expert physician, the witness must be licensed and must have been practicing for not less than five years before the date of injury.

Joint and Several Liability

Under a traditional rule of joint and several liability, where more than one defendant is found liable for the injury suffered by a plaintiff, each defendant is individually liable for the entire amount of the judgment, such that if one defendant is unable to pay the other defendant or defendants are liable for the entire amount of the judgment. In Connecticut, this rule has been modified such that the relative fault of each defendant is determined, and defendants are liable only for the amount of damages proportionate to the extent of their fault.

Statute of Limitations

Medical malpractice actions must be commenced within two years of the date of the act or omission giving rise to the injury. Connecticut has no law which extends the statute of limitations for injured minors.

Limits on Attorney Fees

Attorney fees for malpractice cases may not exceed 1/3 of the first $300,000.00, 25% of the next $300,000.00, 20% of the next $300,000.00, 15% of the next $300,000.00, and 10% of any award in excess of $1.2 million.

Additional Rules

When all parties agree, a screening panel is selected. The proceedings and findings of the panel are confidential.

There is discretionary periodic payment of all sums in excess of $200,000.00. If the parties cannot agree upon a payment schedule within sixty days, a lump sum payment is awarded.

Connecticut has voluntary pretrial screening of malpractice cases. A unanimous finding from the pretrial screening is admissible at trial.

Why Use A Malpractice Lawyer

Medical malpractice law is a highly technical field of law, and malpractice lawsuits tend to be fiercely defended by well-funded defense firms.

Medical malpractice lawsuits can be exceptionally expensive to pursue, with costs often exceeding $100,000.00. Due to the technical skills involved in prosecuting a malpractice claim, the possibility that an inexperienced lawyer may not be sufficiently conversant with the medical issues, or might make a technical error which causes a case to be lost or dismissed, and the very high costs the malpractice law firm typically must advance, an injured patient is very well served by going with a specialist firm.

Even within the specialized practice of medical malpractice law, you will find that some lawyers have subspecialties of practice, for example focusing on surgical errors, misdiagnosis, or birth trauma cases.

Copyright © 2003-2011 Aaron Larson. All rights reserved. No portion of this article may be reproduced without the express written permission of the copyright holder. If you believe you may lawfully use a quotation, excerpt or paraphrase of this article under the Fair Use exception to copyright law, except as otherwise authorized by the author of the article, you must cite this article as a source for your work and include a link back to the original article from any online materials that incorporate or are derived from the content of this article.