Medical Negligence and Malpractice Compensation Claims Solicitors

When it comes to medical negligence and malpractice compensation claims, the process can be a little more difficult than other types of claims like road accident claims or claims for accidents at work. That is because with medical negligence and malpractice compensation claims, it is necessary for the medical negligence and malpractice compensation claims solicitors to prove that the medical institution was at fault.

As we all know, medical institutions are notorious for the lengths that they will go to to protect their reputations and staff members. To initiate proceedings, it is necessary to show medical negligence, which means that the doctor, nurse, dentist or other health care professional has done something that other professionals in his or her position would not do. It is not enough to show that a treatment has failed or that something has gone wrong with an operation. Neither of these scenarios necessarily implies medical negligence.

Because of the trickiness of working with medical negligence and malpractice compensation claims, fees and compensation payments can be different too. Although some medical negligence and malpractice compensation claims lawyers will work on a no win no fee basis, in extreme cases, it is more likely that they will either want their fees paid up front or that they will take a cut of the compensation payment.

This generally applies to cases where medical negligence and malpractice compensation claims solicitors believe there is less than a 51% chance of the claim succeeding. Also, with medical negligence and malpractice compensation claims against the NHS, it is more likely to have to enter into a conditional arrangement, whereby they take a percentage of the compensation amount, by way of payment for their services.

More so than any other type of claim, when it comes to medical negligence and malpractice compensation claims solicitors, it is advisable to shop around. If you are not confident that the solicitors that you are talking to have enough experience with your type of claim, it is in the claimant’s best interest to talk to other solicitors with more relevant experience.

Currently in the UK, the NHS is regularly bombarded with complaints. Error in prescriptions and scheduled operations on the wrong limbs are just some of the problems that occur but at the moment, there is nothing to be done about these. As long as the problem is corrected in time, no compensation can be sought, although an official complaint can be made.

But many cases of medical negligence and malpractice compensation claims are more serious than that. In October of 2010, NHS lawyers were forced to issue a public apology and agree to a multi-million-pound medical negligence claim for a little boy left profoundly disabled by blunders which happened at John Radcliffe Hospital.

The little boy, who is only eight-years-old, has been left with cerebral palsy and will be wheelchair bound for the rest of his life, after doctors made crucial mistakes during his birth in 2002. His parents launched a High Court action against the NHS to pay for the boy’s round-the-clock medical needs.

In fact, cases of medical negligence and malpractice compensation claims are very high profile in the news at the moment. In a survey compiled by the Sunday Express newspaper, they found that 718 families launched compensation claims in 2009 against the NHS as a result of incidents that occurred during the births of their babies.

In the last fifteen years, it is estimated that the cost of compensation claims in the cases of medical negligence against newborn babies amounts to £4 billion. The taxpayer bears the brunt of this cost.

Specialists say that this figure only represents a small percentage of these types of cases of medical negligence and malpractice compensation claims and that in reality, the figures are much higher. They blame the lack of experienced staff in maternity wards as the cause for the need of medical negligence and malpractice compensation claims solicitors in many of these cases.

Medical Negligence and Malpractice Compensation Claims Example Cases:

The case of Imogen Carter is a classic example of this kind of medical negligence. When Ms. Carter was pregnant with Imogen, it was noted that Ms. Carter was a carrier of an infection known as group B streptococcus. Ms. Carter should have been given antibiotics during pregnancy to prevent the transmission of the infection from mother to daughter.

However, this never happened. As a result when Imogen was born, she had to be placed in an incubator unit and had to receive surgery including a lumbar puncture. The family received £5,000 compensation which will be held by the court until Imogen is 18 – and another £1,000 to cover their out of pocket expenses, from Epsom and St Helier Trust.

Other types of medical negligence and malpractice compensation claims result from medical misdiagnosis. It doesn’t matter if a person is told that they have a condition that they don’t actually have or told they have one thing when in fact they have another or told that they are healthy when they are not, in each case, the results can be devastating.

Some of the problems that can be caused by medical misdiagnosis that can lead to medical negligence and malpractice compensation claims include:

• Taking unsuitable or unnecessary medicines
• Having unnecessary medical procedures
• Delay in diagnosing the real illness
• Not taking the steps necessary to improve a condition
• Stress from worry about something you actually did not have
• Death or other serious health implications
• Suffering side-effects from drugs which were not needed
• Worry for the partners, friends and family of the patient
• Unnecessary progression of the underlying illness while it remains untreated

According to the National Patient Safety Foundation, up to 42 percent of patients claim to have experienced medical misdiagnosis. That is a very high figure. The foundation recommends that all patients remain vigilant while seeking treatment. It is also important to remember that if a person is in any way suspicious, valuable time can be saved by seeking out the services of medical negligence and malpractice compensation claims solicitors as quickly as possible.