“Medical negligence” is substandard care that’s been provided by a medical professional to a patient, which has directly caused injury or caused an existing condition to get worse.
Legal Definition Of Medical Negligence
Legally speaking, medical negligence claims are subject to a two-part test:
- You must be able to prove that the care provided to you has been substandard. Unfortunately, we don’t have the right to excellent or gold standard healthcare, but rather a “reasonable standard”. This reasonable standard is decided by independent medical experts.
- You must be able to prove that the substandard care provided to you has ‘more likely than not’ been the cause of your injury or made your condition worse.
We offer a free initial consultation where our legal experts assess your claim against medical negligence tests and advise you if you have a claim.
Different Types Of Medical Negligence
We have experience in a wide range of medical negligence cases, including:
- Misdiagnosis – diagnosing a medical condition or injury incorrectly, which might result in a delay in receiving the necessary treatment, or incorrect treatment being given
- Incorrect treatment or medication being prescribed – giving treatment or prescribing medication that’s not recommended for your medical condition, failing to prescribe necessary treatment or medication, such as antibiotics at the appropriate time
- Delay in the diagnosis of a medical condition – failing to diagnose the correct medical condition early enough to give correct treatment
- Poor management of a medical condition – failing to review a patient as often as is required, or providing substandard care
- Failure to refer – failing to refer a patient to the appropriate specialist for further investigations or treatment
- Inadequate surgery – making mistakes during surgery or failing to notice mistakes made during surgery that could have been corrected
- ‘Never events’ – these are serious, preventable events such as medical objects being left inside a patient following surgery, or the incorrect limb being amputated during surgery
What Are The Potential Consequences Of Negligence?
Medical negligence can have devastating effects on patients, their health and their lives. We see many clients whose lives have been turned upside down after negligent medical treatment. Some cases of medical negligence can even result in death.
The injuries and illnesses caused by medical negligence can be devastating. We aim to make sure that medical professionals and the trusts they are employed by quickly spot where lessons can be learned so that mistakes can be avoided in the future.
Medical Negligence – Free Initial Advice
If you have questions or concerns regarding medical negligence compensation, call our team free on 0800 121 6567 or contact us online and we’ll get back to you.
The above information relates to the law in England and Wales.
All Scottish cases will be handled by the Scottish law firm with which we are associated, Irwin Mitchell Scotland LLP. The law relating to funding is different in Scotland and you will receive separate advice about what that means as well as a separate funding agreement.