Do I Have a Negligence Claim?

Lots of people have successfully filed clinical negligence claims after experiencing both short and longer term physical or psychological issues in the aftermath of receiving substandard healthcare.

While no one takes pleasure in finger pointing in the direction of the NHS (or any healthcare professional for that matter), nevertheless from time-to-time evidence and subsequent blame leads to the doors of the nation’s largest healthcare provider.

We shouldn’t feel guilty nor shy away from following up our concerns or be anxious about casting accusations towards those parties we feel are responsible for making existing problems worse or misdiagnosing us. Ultimately, we approach healthcare providers in our hours of need to seek assurance and guidance, and therefore should trust in their judgements and actions.

What is Negligence?

We put a great deal of faith in GPs, consultants, surgeons and pretty much anyone who provides advice and treatment or delivers a diagnosis or prognosis in terms of our health and wellbeing. And as such it always comes as a shock if we discover that trust has been compromised by negligent information or actions.

In legal parlance, clinical negligence is essentially a failure to exercise appropriate care due to a poor standard of healthcare being provided; subsequently leading to harm of either a physical or emotional nature. Clinical negligence might also be referred to as medical negligence or medical malpractice, yet effectively amounts to a similar thing.

Common examples of episodes of clinical negligence tend to include the following:

• When a healthcare professional has failed to diagnose a condition
• When a healthcare professional has given you the wrong diagnosis
• When a healthcare professional has prescribed the wrong medication
• When a healthcare professional has neglected to warn you about any potential risks involved in a treatment or procedure carried out
• When a healthcare professional has failed to get your consent before you undergo treatment
• When a healthcare professional made a mistake during a procedure or operation
• When a healthcare professional didn’t notice symptoms of possible mental illness
• When a hospital discharged you too early, subsequently causing harm
• When a mental health team failed to afford you the right treatment, causing you harm

“I Feel Bad About Accusing the NHS“

Did you know that not everyone who has a legitimate case that would form the basis of pursuing a clinical negligence claim against a healthcare provider does so. However, one of the reasons why some people might choose not to pursue claims of clinical negligence against the NHS is down to stigma.#

As a justifiable beacon of post-war societal and healthcare achievement, our health service is a rightly proud institution. But that doesn’t make it immune from frailties or beyond criticism.

Look at it this way… Claiming against giants such as the NHS will help to prevent future mistreatment cases, and ultimately see a decline in clinical negligence cases. As further provisions are put into place to ensure that patients don’t receive a poor quality of care.

Do I Have a Case for Negligence?

If you fulfil any of the above criteria, then it’s possible that you could have a rightful claim for clinical negligence. To recap; should you have been injured as the result of receiving medical treatment carried out by NHS Trusts, private hospitals, your GP, specialist doctors or consultants, cosmetic surgeons, mental health professionals, nurses, dentists or any other type of medical staff, then it stands to reason that they might have a case to answer to.

Which in turn, may lead to an individual who has suffered being entitled to compensation, if and when it’s legally proven that the physical or psychological injury happened whilst under the duty of care of health experts. Although this doesn’t necessarily mean that the treatment received was wholly negligent as such. In terms of compensation, this can only be claimed in the event that ‘balance of probability’ weighs in favour of the claimant.

Balance of probability refers to establishing if the treatment received was carried out negligently. In other words, if it’s proven that the care received fell short of medically acceptable standards of practice and the governance in place. And that this shortfall directly led to and was unequivocally the ‘cause’ of a claimant’s injury or ill health.

How Do I Go About Challenging a Healthcare Provider If I Feel My Health Has Suffered?

Such tests mentioned above are historically difficult to pass. To prove beyond reasonable doubt that you have grounds for a claim for clinical negligence, it’s best to seek expert advice. Independent and impartial advice and guidance is what our team here at DIYPI are experienced in providing.

We’ll provide specialist solicitors who possess a wealth of knowledge in clinical negligence cases, and they will be able to determine if your particular case in question is likely to lead to compensation. This itself is based not solely on the injuries a victim has suffered courtesy of clinical negligence, but also extends to any associated losses.

These can include compensation for pain and suffering, payment for ongoing treatments, loss of earnings, costs involved with extra care or equipment sought, the cost of adapting a claimant’s home to accommodate their post-injury needs, along with any psychological damage which needs compensating for.

This is all taken into account by DIYPI’s team of clinical negligence experts, who you can speak with directly today. By getting in touch with us here.