It is important to appreciate that mistakes happen in any professional situation, regardless of how well trained, skilled, experienced and caring the professionals are. Where mistakes are made and harm is caused, those affected usually speak to us not because they want to seek financial gain from the situation but because they want to ensure that the same mistake doesn’t happen again to someone else and that lessons are learnt.
We can help you to raise that awareness. Pursuing a claim leads to an investigation, and this scrutiny means that improvements can be made to policies, procedures and professional training. It also allows for a financial settlement to be awarded which places a patient in a better position to cope with the consequences of the injury. Financial compensation enhances their quality of life and, where they don’t need it, allows a patient to do good with any settlement they may be awarded.
Common claims arising from medical negligence include:
- A failure to diagnose a condition or illness or make the wrong diagnosis (misdiagnosis)
- A mistake or error made before, during or after an operation or surgical procedure
- The wrong medication being administered or dispensed
- A failure to provide valid and informed consent to a treatment or surgical procedure
- A failure to warn of risks (including rare but material risks) to a procedure or treatment
We act for clients seeking representation to resolve medical disputes against healthcare providers including GPs, NHS trusts and private hospitals, dentists, pharmacists and care homes. Our Legal Director Fiona Tinsley has a strong background in medical law and analysis of evidence and is highly experienced, having been instructed on recommendation on numerous occasions.
How to prove medical negligence
Two legal aspects must be proved to successfully establish a case:
- That the standard of treatment and care has fallen below the standards of reasonable competence in a particular field of medicine. In a clinical negligence case, that standard is considered independently by a medical expert practising in the same area of medicine who provides an opinion independently on the basis that the case may one day go to court.
- That but for the negligence, the injury would not have arisen or that the negligence caused worse pain and suffering and loss than may have been the case absent the negligence.
It is important to know and understand that both legal aspects have to be proved to pursue a case.