Economic Damages: Economic damages compensate for measurable financial losses and are not subject to Missouri’s damage caps. These include past and future medical expenses for treatment related to the negligence, including surgeries, hospitalizations, rehabilitation, medications, medical equipment, and home modifications for disabilities. Lost wages cover income you couldn’t earn while recovering from your injuries. If the negligence caused permanent disabilities affecting your ability to work, you may recover lost earning capacity—the difference between what you would have earned over your career and what you can now earn given your limitations. Economic damages also include the cost of household services you can no longer perform yourself, such as cleaning, yard work, and childcare. These damages must be proven with reasonable certainty through medical bills, employment records, expert economist testimony, and other documentation.
Non-economic Damages: Non-economic damages compensate for intangible harms that don’t have specific price tags. These include physical pain and suffering, mental anguish and emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, permanent disfigurement or scarring, and physical impairment or disability. Spouses may also recover for loss of consortium—the loss of companionship, affection, and sexual relations resulting from their partner’s injuries. These damages are separate from the injured person’s claim but are subject to the same overall cap. Missouri caps these damages based on injury severity (RSMo § 538.210). The law sets maximum amounts for pain and suffering compensation, with higher limits for catastrophic injuries like paralysis or death. Because juries don’t know about these caps, they may award amounts that courts later reduce to statutory limits.
Punitive Damages: Punitive damages punish particularly egregious conduct and deter similar behavior by others. However, following 2020 tort reform, punitive damages in Missouri medical negligence cases require clear and convincing evidence of intentional or malicious conduct. This high standard makes them available only in the most extreme cases involving deliberate harm or reckless disregard for patient safety. When awarded, punitive damages are subject to caps under RSMo § 510.265—the greater of $500,000 or five times net compensatory damages. Leave of court is required before punitive damages may even be pleaded.
Wrongful Death Damages: When medical negligence causes death, surviving family members may recover funeral and burial expenses, medical expenses incurred before death, loss of the deceased’s financial support and services, loss of companionship and guidance, and the deceased’s pain and suffering before death. Wrongful death claims under RSMo § 537.100 have specific requirements about who may file and how damages are distributed among survivors. These cases involve complex calculations of the deceased’s expected lifetime earnings and the value of their contributions to the family.
