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Claiming Medical Negligence Compensation

By Craig Ellyard

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 15Apr2009 Word count: 471 Viewed: 300 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Medical negligence occurs when a doctor, dentist or any other medical professional makes a mistake in diagnosing and, or, treating a patient, resulting in injury or trauma to that patient. In cases such as this, where the medical practitioner has not carried out their work to the professional standards that they are expected to practice, the patient may be entitled to make a medical negligence compensation claim against them.

As may be expected making a claim for compensation against a medical professional can be a long, drawn out and very involved process. Because of the complexities involved in making such a claim the claimant will need to employ a specialist solicitor to help them take the claim forward.

Unfortunately, choosing the right solicitor or lawyer can be just as difficult. If possible it is always best to approach a solicitor that has been recommended to the claimant by an independent friend or colleague. Word of mouth recommendations are usually the most reliable method of finding a good lawyer or compensation solicitor.

In the UK most compensation solicitors will offer to take cases on a ‘no win no fee’ basis. Basically, this means that the claimant will not have to pay the solicitors fees if the case is lost. However, because of this layers will not take on any case that they think they may lose; which means the claimant may have to visit several compensation solicitors before they find one willing to take their case.

Once a suitable lawyer has been hired the lengthy claims process begins with the lawyer firstly gathering all the available evidence. This will of course focus on the medical records of the claimant including the names of the doctors, the name of the clinic or hospital, the types of treatments used, the type of surgery performed, the medication given, the tests taken etc, all these are vital for the lawyer to be able to prove a case of medical negligence.

The lawyer or compensation solicitor will then hand all the facts of the claim over to their own medical experts for an opinion as to the extent of the malpractice. This expert will advise the solicitor if there was medical negligence on the part of the offending medical practitioner.

Eventually the solicitor will propose a settlement figure which the medical professional’s insurance company may or may not accept. If the medical professional disputes the claim or the amount of the settlement figure than the result of the claim will be decided by a court.

The legal process will be a long one and there are very rarely any shortcuts that can be taken. Even if all parties agree that medical malpractice took place than there will still be plenty of bargaining needed before a final settlement figure is reached which is acceptable to all involved.

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