Medical negligence occurs when a healthcare provider gives care or treatment that falls below an acceptable standard, causing avoidable harm. In law, medical professionals owe a duty of care to everybody they treat; this includes seeing patients within the NHS and the private sector. It means they must not cause any harm and should follow professional standards and ethics. Medical negligence is also sometimes called clinical negligence.
If you can demonstrate injury as a result of medical negligence then you could receive compensation for the harm suffered. Start a medical negligence compensation claim with our professional team today.
How To Prove Medical Negligence
Medical negligence claims hinge on being able to prove that you have suffered an injury or illness due to a breach of duty of care the defendant owed you; effectively, you were given substandard care. A medical negligence claim can also be made because a pre-existing condition worsened due to the actions of a medical professional.
Medical negligence claims fall within the area of civil law called personal injury. However, because of the complexity of medical issues, proving clinical negligence is often complicated and requires a specialist legal team.
Establishing A Breach Of Duty Of Care
To prove a breach of duty of care, your specialist team must be able to demonstrate that your medical care failed to meet acceptable standards. They will gather evidence using a detailed statement from you, the defendant, medical records, witness statements, and expert opinion from another independent medical expert. A successful medical negligence claim is dependent on being able to obtain sufficient evidence.
Medical negligence can occur for many reasons, and some of these are: –
- Inadequate training
- Poor systems in place within the practice or healthcare department
- Lack of training or supervision
- A failure to follow established diagnostic and treatment protocols
- Incorrect treatment
- Incorrect drug prescriptions
Proving Causation
The other essential element in medical negligence cases is causation. Causation means that the medical professional’s negligence caused your injury and is vital for a successful claim.
Causation relies on the ‘but for’ test; put simply, but for the negligent medical treatment, the injury would not have occurred. However, due to the sometimes complex nature of medical treatment and multiple conditions and injuries, extracting the appropriate medical evidence to support a claim successfully can be challenging. A specialist and experienced legal team is essential to thoroughly understand the issues and determine whether causation can be established.
Working With A Medical Expert And Witnesses
To progress a clinical negligence claim, you’ll need to work with experienced medical negligence solicitors. A medical negligence lawyer will identify the right medical expert who can help establish whether your medical professional breached their legal duty. Independent medical experts are impartial and provide honest opinions on the standard of care you received.
The Main Challenges In Proving Medical Negligence
Proving medical negligence is challenging, especially in cases where there are multiple causes of the injury or the claimant had a pre-existing condition and was ill before the treatment. The ‘but for’ test can be problematic in both these scenarios.
The Role Of A Solicitor In Proving Medical Negligence
Whilst some simple, non-medical personal injury claims can be managed with minimal legal intervention, a medical negligence claim will always require an experienced medical negligence solicitor.
The first step the solicitor will take is to evaluate your case and advise whether you are eligible to make a claim for negligent treatment. For this, they need the complete picture and the detail of the circumstances surrounding your injury.
One of the solicitor’s main roles is to start a medical negligence investigation and build a medical negligence case. For this, they need sufficient evidence to fight your claim successfully. A medical negligence solicitor will work with a medical expert and your witnesses to establish whether a duty of care has been breached.
You will also be able to claim for any financial losses you have suffered, such as loss of income due to an inability to work and additional costs like transport to appointments if you are unable to drive. Financial losses must all be supported by documentary evidence using things like bank statements to show reduced earnings and receipts and invoices for travel expenses and private medical treatment.
The idea is to secure a compensation settlement that reflects your pain and suffering and compensates you for past and future expenses.
Finding No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Solicitors
A No Win No Fee agreement is a way in which a personal injury solicitor can help you claim, and you won’t need to pay any money up front or during the claims process. Even in the complex area of medical negligence claims, some specialist solicitors work on a No Win No Fee basis. You can search for lawyers on the Law Society website; the Law Society is the Solicitors’ regulation authority.
You’ll be asked to sign a conditional fee agreement before solicitors start work on your claim. It will confirm that the solicitors take their fee from any compensation award you receive, and this amount will be expressed as a percentage. Called a success fee, the amount is capped by law at 25% of your financial settlement in the UK.
Final Thoughts
The psychology of a medical negligence claim differs from other types of personal injury claims. It’s perhaps easier to understand injuries in the context of a car accident or an accident at work rather than in a medical setting where healthcare workers are there to treat and make people better. However, medical professionals are only human, and they can make mistakes.
Some people are also hesitant to start legal action as a patient of the NHS because of the financial implications. However, it is worth knowing that any compensation is paid from a central fund via an organisation called NHS Resolution. NHS Resolution is there to handle patient claims and there is plenty of helpful information on their website about starting a complaint.
A medical negligence claim requires experienced and expert medical negligence solicitors. You’ll need to be able to show a breach in duty of care and prove causation and damages – three elements required to mount a successful case.
A medical negligence solicitor can help you understand your particular case in the context of making a negligence claim so you can receive the compensation you rightfully deserve.
