A Guide to Medical & Clinical Negligence Compensation Claims

Generally, doctors and health care professionals take proper care of their patients when they are being treated. They try to make sure that these patients are handled with extreme caution, with standard protocol, and care. However in the case of medical care and treatment, sometimes, things could go wrong.

If these medical and health professionals become negligent in the course of medical treatment and probably cause or allow an accident to happen to the patient, the situation is known as clinical negligence, and the patients may be given the right by medical negligence solicitors who critically analyze and judge the situations, to be awarded compensations for them.

Common types of Medical Negligence Claims

Medical negligence is the act by a health professional, or care provider, or an omission that deviates from the standard protocols, and rules and regulations of practice, in the Medicine and the medical community. This may cause injury to an involved patient.

Some of these acts of negligence and malpractice are therefore stated below:

• Surgical Negligence
• Medical Misdiagnosis
• GP negligence
• Hospital negligence
• Anaesthesia
• Pregnancy and Birth accidents and injuries
• Dental Negligence
• Prescription and Medication Errors
• Negligent medical advice, etc.

What is a Compensation Claim?

A compensation claim is a payment awarded to victims of negligence or accidents that are not their fault. Oftentimes pain and suffering associated with victims are a direct result of medical and clinical negligence and medical malpractices. This prerogative could be demanded by patients of medical treatment processes or by employees of a workplace.

What is a Medical and Clinical Negligence Compensation Claim?

Medical and clinical negligence compensation claims are legally defined and explained as occurrences of charges for rights against personal medical practitioners or hospitals for possible incurred damages during medical treatment processes.

A medical or clinical negligence claim happens when a patient takes the hospital or medical practitioner (sometimes, both) to court, to charge them for compensations due to malpractice and/or acts of negligence that may have been experienced during the process of delivery of medical care to them.

What a medical and clinical negligence compensation claim covers?

If you or your loved one have been victims of one form of negligence or another, generally, compensation awarded to you, depending on the nature and severity of your case would cover for:

Rehabilitation support

Victims who suffer non physical damage are offered compensation that might cover rehabilitation support. Medical negligence might cause a lot of emotional and psychological damages, and these are also claimed for.

Future care needs

In case of future care needs like a house, wheelchair, medical maids, etc, medical or clinical negligence compensation claims cover for the expenses.

Loss of earnings

Compensation claims cover for financial losses and loss of amenities. Victims are liable to be awarded compensation for all losses of things earned before the accident if they are excellently proven deserving.

Pain and suffering

These compensation claims cover for physical pain and suffering, pains which might include neuropathic pains, after effects of bone damage like osteoarthritis, arthritis, osteomyelitis, etc.

Whether you were wrongly treated by your GP or you are looking at suing the NHS for substandard care, our solicitors can help. Contact us now for a free no obligation case evaluation

What to do if you have experienced Medical Negligence?

• If you have experienced medical or clinical negligence, you can complain about it by speaking, informally, to someone, or by filing a formal complaint at a proper solicitor's table. It is usually easier to bring a solution to something informally, or by a formal complaint, than by posing a legal challenge.
• However, If talking to someone about it, informally or making a formal complaint does not work or is considered inappropriate, it is advisable to pose a legal challenge. This means, though, that you will need to take it to court.
• It is always very important to seek legal advice about your situation, before taking the case to court. You may be able to get help in paying your legal fees, probably through conditional fee agreements, or through your trade union.
• To prove a case of negligence, it is necessary for you to show that a hospital, medical care centre, or professional has failed you in their duty of care and that you have experienced a loss or damage due to malpractice or negligence. Loss or damage that could be presented might include testimonials of either physical or psychiatric injury (sometimes, both), as well as loss of finance, earnings, and amenities.
• And in the case where your claim is successful, the court is capable of awarding you money as compensation. This compensation is known as damages. The Damages can include payments for the cost of loss of earnings and finance, loss of amenities, and cost of pain and suffering.

Things to know and consider when claiming for compensation

1. The time limits

Usually, a compensation claim has to be lodged at Court in the period within three years of a patient's awareness of the problem — this is mostly the time or period of occurrence of the negligence. However, there are particular times when lodging claims for medical negligence carries exceptions. These times include situations like if the patient is below the age of eighteen, or lacks adequate mental capacity. The Jury or Judges may permit other exceptions, but it is unlikely.

2. In finding a Solicitor

You must consider seeking a specialist medical solicitor who is well experienced and extremely knowledgeable in the field or category of medical negligence you are claiming compensation in. They are charged by ethics to analyse and judge your complaint, and inform you whether you have a case for claiming compensation for medical and clinical negligence, and discuss the next procedures to follow, with adequate and consecutive information on your legal choices.

3. You may not go to trial

You should keep in mind that you probably will not go to trial because many cases of medical negligence are resolved even before they are charged to a full trial. In most cases, the defence will appear with an offer of financial settlement, but you should prepare for the possibility of your claim to be taken to court; and this is greatly dependent on the presented facts of your case.

4. It need not be an NHS doctor

Any health practitioner can be held responsible if you possess and present evidence that they have disregarded your care or related. This list includes Cosmetic Surgeons, Dentists, private clinics, ophthalmologists and ophthalmic clinics. These specialists are available to have somebody claim for medical negligence against them in the cases where there are recognizable deeds of negligent actions or inactions.

5. How you will sponsor your claim

Formerly, Legal Aid used to be accessible to fund claims of medical negligence, however, this is recently only available in very insufficient conditions. The major alternative that most Claimants currently use in funding medical negligence claims is to go into a Conditional and common Fee Agreement which has a No Win No Fee basis. You will probably also possess legal expenses insurance on your existing insurance policies, and we will try to investigate this with you. Another option is private funding which is available, but also not commonly used.

6. Proof is a necessity

In the case where you have no physical evidence to present, there is very little chance that your case will be successful— this is why it is very important that the claimant keeps records of utterly everything involved with the case, regardless of how unimportant they may seem. The kind of proof that is necessary, will be notes, records, witnesses, expert medical opinions, and correspondence. Our team of solicitors for medical negligence claims can help you to collect and arrange these pieces of evidence.

7. Additional proof is important

When your Solicitor initially contacts your hospital or medical practitioner, they will request notes or medical records that are pertinent to your medical negligence claim. Our medical negligence Solicitors possess proficiency, and are experienced in sourcing additional proof for our clients.

8. How long will it take?

It might take a period between eighteen months and three years, in many cases of medical negligence— the process leading up to a trial, or sometimes longer. The duration of the claim is greatly dependent on the Defendants attitude toward causation and liability, the ambiguousness of the complaint, and the injury sustained.

9. Medical witnesses are important

In many cases, medical witnesses are beckoned on for their professional opinions. It is this expert proof that helps to establish the act-constituted negligence, causal link between the negligence and its damaging effect, and the long-term effect on the Claimant.

How we can help

In difficult times like this, meeting with a solicitor you trust is very important. You must consider who can help to excellently direct you around the many varying obstacles of medical negligence claims, and we are here with our proficient team of solicitors to be of maximum help.

Having adequate knowledge, prior to the commencement of this very delicate process, will equip you to make sensible decisions. So, we’d be glad to discuss with you today and help provide you with important pieces of advice, and the necessary legal guidance.

Our No Win No Fee Basis

We aim to provide you with the best opportunity to make medical negligence claims with absolutely zero financial implications. Under our No Win/No Fee basis, you are able to lodge claims without payment of legal and court fees. We will provide you with a free consultation session, an adequate discussion period in which we will analyse your complaint and decide which specialist solicitor to assign to you; and dare to undertake your claims for free.

In the case that we are unable to successfully prove your claims, you will be protected from offering us payment, and also from paying the defendant’s legal fees. This is because we undergo an insurance cover scheme in case of such occurrences.

After your claims are undertaken, defended, settled, and won, we will deduct 25% of the compensation as our 'success fee' and release the rest to you as deserved. It is a no-loss process, and that's why you need us to make the lodging process seamless and free. You deserve the best solicitors to help you with your medical and clinical negligence claims. Therefore, we look forward to hearing from you— contact us.

How do medical negligence compensation claims work?

Medical proof will be collected to confirm that the treatment received by the patient was negligent, and used to determine the causal link between the treatment process and an allocated injury, or that it has contributed to worsening an already existing condition. Immediately supportive medical proof has been collected, a claim will be lodged against the defendant, and they shall be summoned to claim innocence or admit fault.

How successful are medical negligence claims?

It is shown that around 10 — 11 % of yearly hospital admissions end in an unexpected and adverse outcome because of medical incidents; and that only 0.2% of all these claims are successful.

How much are medical negligence claims worth?

The average NHS negligence payout is estimated around £50,000, according to the NHS Litigation Authority. However, just like medical conditions present different conditions and facts, from one person to another, NHS negligence claims are unlikely to be the exact same between patients.

How much does the NHS pay for medical negligence claims?

Yearly, all hospitals in England make payments into the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts, which is a fund that is managed by a body named the NHS Resolution. They keep annual budgets for negligence claims, amounting to hundreds of billions of pounds. It is from this budget that they pay for medical negligence claims, from around £50,000 to £250,000. However, in the UK, compensation for general damages may amount to £1 million.