An Introduction to Medical Negligence Claims

There are a number of important issues you need to establish before proceeding with a medical negligence claim against a healthcare provider. First, it’s necessary to prove that the treatment of the claimant has fallen below the minimum standard of acceptable treatment by a clinician in that particular area of medicine.

Once this has been established the next issue on the list is to prove that the healthcare provider was responsible for the patient’s care and health. In most cases a standard doctor/patient relationship would be sufficient.

In addition to this the claimant must be able to provide evidence that it was the clinical negligence that caused the actual injury or harm. The best practice to accomplish this is to establish the natural development of the illness and the likely outcome if correct treatment had been given. The result should then be compared the outcome following the negligent treatment. There may be slight variations in patient’s reaction to the same treatment which must be taken into consideration when making this comparison.

Compensation can be claimed for items such as:

• Pain & Suffering

• Change of Lifestyle

• Loss of Past & Future Earnings

• Prescription Charges & Medical Fees

• Costs of Assistance for Household Chores

• Travelling Expenses

• Special Care Aids & Equipment

• Cost of Care & Assistance

• Adapted Accommodation & Transportation

• Out-of-Pocket Expenses

The primary limitation period for England and Wales for medical negligence claims is three years from the date of the clinical mistreatment or from the date when it is realised or should be realised that a significant injury has been suffered as the result of the negligent treatment. However, this may be extended in the following cases:

• Mental Disabilities: In the event of the patient suffering from mental disabilities the limitation period does not start until mental capacity has returned.

• Minors: For those under the age of 18 years the three year limitation period does not start until the18th birthday. If the claim has not been settled or Court proceedings issued by the claimants 21st birthday the opportunity to claim compensation will have been lost.

• Court Discretion: A Court has the power to alter the time limits but rarely is this discretion exercised.

Please visit www.mycompensationclaim.co.uk for more information about Medical Negligence Claims and other personal injury compensation types.

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Medical Negligence Far-Fetched

Sometimes one is forced to ask if anyone could be so forgettable to forget an object as conspicuous, and even large, as a towel in the belly of a patient? One also finds it unbelievable that a medical team could operate on the left foot – when in fact it’s the right that needs fixing – of a patient, for example. But these ghastly incidents do occur.

Wrongful death and personal injury
In one case in which a medical team is accused of negligence leading to the wrongful death of a baby, it was alleged that the head of the team even arrived late for the operation, a late-term abortion. Even though the original plan was to abort the pregnancy (or cause the death of the baby before birth), it was eventually delivered alive.

Perhaps, in an effort to get the job done a member of the team, allegedly lacking medical license, snatched the baby and tossed it into a bag and disposed of it. Although this case is a still a subject of litigation and needs not be elaborated further, what it shows is the manner in which some experts may perform their jobs.

But what must be discussed is the situation where wrongful death or personal injury is carelessly caused by experts. This cannot be dismissed as an accident since as experts in the field they are liable and must exercise extreme care.

In the event of a wrongful death or personal injury following a medical negligence the victim needs to get in touch with the right set of experts or solicitors to enable them get access to the kind of advice they need. This will also mean going through the whole evidence supplied by the victim and working out what compensation they could get, if any.

Costly bills for NHS
Although this has been discussed over and over again, soaring NHS compensation claims bill arising from medical negligence remains of serious concern to any observer or analyst. In a recent report it was revealed that more than £700 million has been earmarked for covering claims costs in the next one year. The amount set aside was based on the expectation that negligence claims would rise by 80 per cent next year.

While this has prompted criticisms, the issue that needs examining is whether there’s a need to reduce the rate of incidents leading to claims in our hospitals. Perhaps, this is one issue that may be determined by the medical experts themselves as they strive to be extra-careful; but people that genuinely feel they have been wronged would continue to seek compensation.

Compensation for medical negligence, therefore, may not be seen as an end in itself, but a means to it. Even as people would naturally want to be paid compensation, many would prefer that things go right. Medical experts could help in actualising, except where human error makes it absolutely difficult, this dream of every patient: to walk in pains and walk out in relief.

When and How to Claim Medical Compensation

<a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link']);” href=”http://www.compensationlawyers.com/medical-negligence-compensation-claims.html”>Medical Injury compensation </a>  visits a hospital to be treated of his illnesses and if he finds that he was subject to wrong diagnosis or was intentionally mistreated by the doctors who kept charging him bills, then it is perfectly within the rights of the patient to claim compensation.

How can a Compensation be Claimed?

While claiming a <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link']);” href=”http://www.compensationlawyers.com/medical-negligence-compensation-claims.html”>Medical Compensation Claims </a>  Claim, it would be prudent to hire a Compensation Lawyer. A Medical Compensation Lawyer is fully qualified and is perfectly capable of getting you a compensation, which you might not be able to achieve all by yourself. He is fully knowledgeable about the laws and other terms that are required in a Medical Compensation, and he will be able to present your case before the court in the best possible light.

When can a Compensation be Claimed?

You should remember that you cannot simply claim compensation because your illness was not treated. This is because maybe your illness is incurable and cannot be treated at all, and that is not the fault of the doctors or the hospital.

However, you are free to claim compensation if:

You realize that the doctors are not qualified enough to treat you and that the treatment is not benefiting you in any way. The hospital may not have the necessary equipments and facilities, and they knowingly hamper your treatment by admitting you in the hospital and charging you for treatments they are not rendering.

Wrong diagnosis is done. The diagnosis of an illness has much to do with its treatment, and the patient might be treated for something else while in reality he is suffering from something else. In that case, the real illness keep spreading, endangering the patient’s life and making the procedures of the treatment more complicated and expensive.

Proper diagnosis is not done at the right time. The time of diagnosing an illness determines which stage is it in, and late diagnosis might also cost the patient his life. not to mention the tremendous mental anxiety that this causes for the patient and his family.

A patient expects to be treated by the hospital for his illness, and if the health center or the doctors at the hospital were negligent in their duties, the patient can suffer serious consequences which may even be life threatening. It causes great anxiety to the patient and his family, not to mention the costs of the expenses which were in vain. The patient can demand medical compensation under such circumstances.

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