If you, a family member or friend believe that you have been subjected to negligent medical treatment, our clinical negligence team will be happy to discuss the circumstances of the case with you without any obligation.

We act on behalf of patients on a wide range of clinical negligence claims including:

– Misdiagnosis/failure to diagnose
– Complications from surgery
– Catastrophic/fatal claims
– Amputation and limb loss claims
– Accident and Emergency claims
– Eye surgery claims
– GP negligence claims
– Gynaecological medical claims
– Orthopaedic and bone injury claims
– Pregnancy and birth injury claims

A brief overview of what is involved in pursuing a clinical negligence claim can be found below.

In order to succeed in a claim for clinical negligence compensation it is necessary to prove, on the balance of probabilities, that the medical care and treatment received by a patient fell below a reasonable standard and that the substandard treatment caused injury and loss.

In order to be successful in bringing a claim it must be proven that:-

• There has been a breach of duty;
• That you have suffered an injury/loss; and
• That the injury/loss was caused as a direct result of the breach of duty.

In order to prove the above we require an appropriately qualified independent medical expert of the same medical discipline as the Defendant to say whether the treatment provided by the Defendant was inadequate and whether, as a direct result of that inadequate treatment, you have suffered injury.

It must always be remembered when considering a potential clinical negligence action that it does not follow that there has been negligence just because someone has not achieved full recovery or where further treatment has been undertaken that was not initially envisaged or recommended. Even the best care can result in a poor outcome for the patient due to the nature of the initial injury or pre-existing features.

Generally, it takes in the region of 18 months to investigate the claim to the point where we know whether fault is admitted or denied.

Clinical negligence claims can take several years to come to a final conclusion and it is important that clients are aware of this from the outset.

As a rule, you must investigate and file a claim at Court within three years of the date of knowledge of the substandard treatment. A failure to do so can result in the claim being statute barred by the Limitation Act 1980.

There are some exceptions to this rule; particularly where the claim concerns a child or a deceased person. In these cases the three year time limit does not begin to run until the child reaches the age of eighteen or in the case of a deceased person; provided the date of death occurs within the original three year time frame then the time restarts from the date of death.

If you, a family member or friend believe that you have been subjected t medical treatment our clinical negligence team will be happy to discuss the circumstances of the case with you, without any obligation. Please contact us today.