What is Medical Negligence?
Medical negligence is when you are injured or left with a worsening health condition as a result of poor or substandard medical care and the effects can be devastating.
Although most healthcare patients will be treated effectively, a small minority end up suffering from medical negligence. This is when a medical professional makes an avoidable mistake, causing you harm in the form of an injury or illness or a worsening medical condition.
Medical negligence also refers to occasions when healthcare professional or organisation fails in their duty of care, causing you injury or harm. This can include:
- Failure to prevent an infection being developed while under their care and support;
- Failure to warn you of the risks of a procedure or treatment
- Failure to diagnose a specific illness or condition
If you have suffered an injury or had an existing health condition made worse after medical treatment or you may have suffered from medical negligence. That means you may be able to make a claim for compensation with the help of our expert medical negligence specialists.
The main purposes of a medical negligence claim are:
- To provide rehabilitation support to get you back to the position you were in prior to the medical negligence occurring;
- To seek a letter of apology from the health professional or organisation due to their breach of duty;
- To compensate the injured person and their loved ones for the pain, suffering and loss caused as a result of the medical negligence.
How much compensation will I be entitled to?
When calculating how much your medical negligence claim is worth, we will need to establish all of the facts, including:
- What pain and suffering the injury has caused to you and your loved ones;
- How the injury will impact on your life in the future;
- Whether the injury has resulted in any financial losses;
- What medical treatment you require, including any ongoing treatment, rehabilitation or care needs;
- Whether you require adaptations to your home or workplace because of your injury;
- Medical negligence compensation is made up of two components – pain and suffering and financial losses;
- Compensation for pain and suffering reflects the nature and severity of the injury. The values are set by Judges using guidelines and previous case law, but are often much lower than people expect. This will depend on the severity of the injury from which the compensation award will vary;
- Compensation for financial losses covers things like, loss of earnings, care costs, medical expenses, aids and equipment costs, transport and accommodation costs.
Assuming you have been able to prove the medical negligence caused your injuries, your claim for past financial losses and expenses can be calculated using receipts and invoices which show your losses. Your independent medical expert will be asked to confirm that these losses were caused by the negligence. Calculating future losses and expenses relies on the independent medical expert’s opinion of how the injuries will affect you in the future, and likely future financial losses. We will advise you as your claim will progress on how much your claim will be worth.
How will I fund my claim?
For many people, funding a medical negligence claim can be the biggest concerns you may have. You may be worried that you will not be able to afford to pay for your solicitor’s services upfront, which could put you off the idea of getting justice for the harm you have suffered.
But in such cases, you do not need to worry. We offer a No-Win-No-Fee arrangement – known as a Conditional Fee Agreement – for medical negligence cases. What this means is that there is no financial risk to you if your claim is unsuccessful, because your legal fees will be covered. If your claim is successful, your legal fees will be covered partly by the other side and partly by a success fee deduction which is capped up to 25%. There is no upfront payment for you to pay us when you enter into a No-Win-No-Fee arrangement.
A No Win No Fee medical negligence claim will allow you to focus on your recovery and putting together the strongest case possible, instead of the potential impact it would have on your finances.
How long do I have to make a claim?
In most cases, you will have three years from the date you experienced the negligence to make your claim. But there are exceptions to this rule, which apply to those under the age of 18, those without the mental capacity to claim for themselves and in cases where the effects of the negligence were only discovered later.
Why Instruct Us?
We value our clients and strive on providing excellent care and service. We want to ensure that you are looked after properly so we can focus on your legal claim. We always take a sympathetic and supportive approach in providing a high level of legal expertise and achieve the best possible outcome.
