Everything you Need to Know Before Pursuing a Medical Negligence Claim

Every year, millions of people are treated in hospitals across the United Kingdom, many of these are NHS hospitals, others are private institutions. Should you encounter any issues with your treatment while in hospital, or another medical or clinical setting, then there are complaints procedures to follow and ways that you can try and resolve your issue. Should these fail to adequately address your concerns, then you may wish to proceed to making a claim for medical negligence.

Making a Complaint

You shouldn’t jump straight into pursuing a clinical negligence claim, you should first go through the relevant complaints procedures. There are a number of reasons why starting with these is in your best interests. First and foremost, pursuing a medical negligence claim will require you to engage the services of medical negligence solicitors. This will cost you money, and even with the best medical negligence solicitors on your side, there is no guarantee that your claim will be successful.

Another reason for going through the more minor complaints procedures before pursuing legal action is so that you can understand the other party’s version of events. It may be that what you believed was a serious error in judgement was in fact only a minor error and was not the fault of a particular individual. You may also find that, while you are initially angry about the mistreatment you feel you have suffered, having the doctor or staff member who you made the complaint against speak to you and explain their version of events, and possibly apologising personally, placates you.

If speaking to the relative people in order to register your complaint doesn’t produce a satisfactory outcome then the next stage is to speak to someone about making a formal complaint. You can do this in person, via e-mail, or via a letter, it is entirely up to you. If you speak to the institution in person then they are allowed to write your complaint down so that they have a record, if they do this then they are required to give you a copy of it so you can be sure of exactly how they have interpreted your complaint. If you are not satisfied with the way they have recorded it, then you should challenge it immediately.

If you can, it is always a good idea to write down your complaint so that you can review it and make sure that it contains everything that you want to say. When writing a formal complaint, be sure to note the date of the incident in question and the date that you wrote the complaint down. Include contact details, and specify how you would like to be contacted. It is best to choose an instant communications method such as e-mail or phone so that your complaint can be dealt with more quickly.

Your complaint should include copies of any relevant documents, retain the originals and include with your complaint a list of the documents you have enclosed and why you have enclosed them. You should also explain what conclusion you are seeking from making your complaint. Remember that you cannot claim any financial compensation through a formal complaint, you will have to pursue a legal claim for medical negligence in order to obtain that. In most cases, your complaint should be given with a view to receiving an apology and better understanding what went wrong in your case. Keep the tone of your letter polite, this is important as if your letter is perceived as being a veiled threat of legal action then the institution is likely to close up and try to protect itself from impending litigation, this will discourage them from being open about your case.

If the Response is Not Satisfactory

If the response you receive to your complaint is inadequate then it is time to start looking at other options. In most cases, the next step will be to begin pursuing a medical negligence claim. However, before you take that step and start looking for medical negligence lawyers to represent you, it is worth familiarising yourself with what exactly constitutes medical negligence and how these cases are handled.

The most important thing to be aware of is that even if you had a bad experience in hospital and there was a particular individual who was clearly at fault, this does not necessarily mean that medical negligence has occurred. For a medical negligence claim to be successful there are certain criteria that must be met, this is known as the Bolam test. The Bolam test requires that the complainant (in this case you) is able to demonstrate that there was a duty of care between them and the individual they are complaining about and that an act or omissions on the part of that individual constituted a breach of care.

If that sounds complicated, don’t worry! It can reasonably be assumed that any individual working on your case after you enter the hospital has a duty of care towards you, it is the second part that is more difficult to prove and it is also this aspect of the test which separates cases of poor job performance from medical malpractice. If you are still unclear on exactly what constitutes medical negligence, try searching online for ‘examples of medical negligence claims UK’. Reading up on some cases which have already been successfully argued will give you a better idea of the criteria to consider.

If you feel that you have a viable case for medical negligence then you should consult with a solicitor who specialises in medical negligence claims. Try searching for ‘medical negligence UK’ to see what kind of groups and individuals are available. The Medical Negligence Experts are an example of a group who operate on a no win no fee basis, meaning that if your claim is unsuccessful you won’t have to pay them. They will also go through your claim with you before proceeding to ascertain whether it has merit and how likely it is to be successful.

The Outcome

Before you embark upon your claim, you should be aware that the courts only have the power to award financial compensation, they cannot force an apology from any individual or institution, nor can they mandate for changes to be made in policy and procedure. It is also worth noting that the vast majority (98% in fact) of all negligence claims are settled before they reach court. This means that either a settlement is agreed between both parties, or that the claimant dropped their case.

Remember, unless you hire a legal team who operates on a no win no fee basis then the costs of pursuing a negligence claim can mount quickly, especially in complex cases. You need to carefully weigh your options and should only pursue a negligence claim when you feel that you are in need of the financial compensation. Any award given will be split into two components. The first is for any damage suffered in the incident itself, the other is for loss of past and future earnings. It is the second award where the bulk of the money is collected and the rare cases of multimillion payouts are due to the complainant being unable to work, or requiring expensive adaptations to their home and or care staff to assist them.

Pursuing a medical negligence claim isn’t something that you should enter into lightly, however, if you think that you have been the victim of medical negligence, then it is worth knowing your rights and understanding how to proceed in order to claim compensation.

*This is a collaborative post.