Medical Negligence
What is medical negligence?
Medical negligence, also known as clinical negligence, is when health professionals, those who work in healthcare, fail in their duty of care, leading to an injury, illness or the worsening of an existing health condition. There are a number of ways in which medical negligence may happen, including surgical errors, misdiagnosis and incorrect treatment.
Medical Negligence claims are quite complicated cases as they require a level of knowledge of the medical conditions that can arise from negligence, as well as the medical procedures and errors in health care that can lead to such conditions.
It’s extremely important, if you decide to make a claim, that you instruct a professional medical negligence solicitor to represent you.
Services in medical negligence
Our team of professional solicitors offer a comprehensive range of services, committed to assisting those who have suffered due to medical negligence. From the inception, we are here to guide and support you, as we know medical negligence cases are emotionally challenging. We are understanding and supportive throughout your claim and beyond, offering comfort and guidance to help relieve some of the stress and anxiety linked to pursuing a legal claim.
Our medical negligence solicitors have in-depth knowledge of the laws and understand the legal complexities, providing professional guidance tailored to your precise circumstances. We can assess the strength of your case by examining medical records, consulting with our medical professionals, and we can evaluate the evidence to determine if there are any grounds for a medical negligence claim and to pursue it to the best of our ability.
What kind of medical negligence can I claim for?
There are various kinds of medical negligence. Some common types of medical negligence claims include:
- Surgical Errors
- Birth Injuries
- GP Negligence
- Misdiagnosis
- Delayed Diagnosis
- Prescription errors
- Treatment errors
- Failing to note deterioration
- Sepsis claims
- Amputation and loss of limb claims
- Spinal injuries
- Fatal medical mistakes
- Mistakes when taking a patient’s medical history
- Failing to carry out correct diagnostic actions including X-rays, scans, and blood tests
- Misinterpreting test results
- Premature discharge of a patient when further care is required
- Anaesthesia mistakes
- Inadequate post-operative care
- Neglecting the patient’s overall health
How can I make a medical negligence claim?
When you are thinking for making a medical negligence claim, there are a few things you can do to make certain your claim runs smoothly.
It is reasonable to seek legal advice from a solicitor who specialises in medical negligence claims, such as our team. We will evaluate your case and guide you through the complex legal process. We will take a full account from you of what has happened and will advise you on whether we believe you have a claim.
If we believe you have a claim, we will then request access to your medical records and examine them in detail to identify if any and what mistakes were made and the impact these had on your current medical condition or recovery. Gathering evidence will be the next step, and we will do this by taking a detailed statement from you, any other witnesses, as well as arranging for you to undergo a medical examination by an independent medical examiner who specialises in medical negligence claims.
Once we have established a healthcare professional has breached their duty of care, meaning they did not provide a reasonable standard of care, we will begin investigating your claim to establish liability as soon as possible. If liability is accepted, we can apply for interim payments which will allow those who have suffered serious injuries to receive part of their compensation before their case settles.
How long do medical negligence claims take?
The length of medical negligence claims varies substantially depending on the complexity of the case. The claims in which liability is instantly admitted are often quicker to settle, sometimes taking less than 12 months.
More complex and serious injury cases where liability is also disputed may take longer to reach settlement, sometimes averaging between two to three years. In such cases collecting evidence and analysing them with medical professionals can be incredibly time-consuming but rest assured we will help you to achieve the best outcome.
In some cases, where you require financial support to pay for any medical care, loss of earnings and any other related costs, we will apply for interim payments before your claim is settled. In all cases, we will keep you up to date with the progress of the case.
Can you make a no win no fee medical negligence claim?
Most of our work for Medical Negligence claims is funded under Conditional Fee Agreements (CFA), which are a form of ‘No Win No Fee’ agreement. Upon making an enquiry about your potential claim, we can provide a free, no obligation discussion about your matter and provide an indication as to whether we can take on your claim under a CFA and provide further information. Sometimes we will need to assess the viability of your claim by conducting a risk assessment. The duration of the assessment process will depend on the amount of documentation that needs to be reviewed. Typically, it takes between 6 to 8 hours and we do not charge for the assessment of Medical Negligence claims.
Under a CFA, your contribution to our legal fees is based on a number of factors, including the risk of us not getting paid at all if your case is unsuccessful, whether or not we fund your disbursements, deferred payment terms, and whether or not we insure your case.
Until we understand the nature of your case we are unable to assess the level of deduction, but we can reassure you that under our CFA, your contribution to our legal fees will never be more than 25% of your compensation. The level of damages/compensation differs from case to case, but rest assured that you will not be charged if we are unable to get compensation.
Full terms and conditions will be supplied at the outset of your case.