Fatal Medical Negligence Claims & Inquests

Our claim and inquest process for fatal medical mistakes begins with a free initial consultation with one of our expert solicitors, who will advise you on making a claim for compensation. We will discuss the best course of action and funding options available to you.

We will also explain what will happen if your loved one needs a post-mortem or if there’s going to be a coroner’s inquest. We will make sure you know what to expect.

Getting in touch is simply the first step. We offer a free initial consultation, and any further decisions are completely up to you.

If you do decide to proceed, our first step will be to gather all the evidence to help prove your claim, including:

• Medical records
• Documents
• Independent medical expert opinions.

We’ll approach the party responsible for the fatal mistakes and inform them we intend to launch a claim against them.

We aim to settle most medical negligence claims out of court. However, if we can’t reach a settlement that we feel is fair to you, or if the responsible party won’t admit blame, we will need to start court proceedings.

If your claim needs to go to court, we will do all we can to make sure you are as prepared and comfortable as possible.

We understand that starting a claim may be the last thing on your mind while you’re grieving. But we do advise you to start your claim as quickly as possible after learning medical negligence occurred. This is because evidence will be more readily available, and the details will be fresher in your mind, making it easier to prove your case. Your needs come first, so we’ll always work in a way that’s comfortable for you.

The time limit for making a claim is normally three years. This time limit begins from the date the negligent treatment or surgery took place.

If you didn’t learn that medical negligence was responsible for your loved one’s death until the inquest, the three-year time limit starts from this date.

The amount of compensation awarded in each fatal medical negligence claim is unique, because the circumstances around each case differ. The amount of compensation you could be entitled to is based on:

• The nature of the negligence your loved one experienced
• How many people were dependent on them and in what ways, such as financially or for the care and support they provided
• Any expenses you incurred, such as loss of earnings through having to care for your loved one, or funeral expenses you have incurred
• Statutory Bereavement Award under the Fatal Accidents Act 1967
• Future care for you and your family, such as counselling fees.

Once we know a little more about your situation, we can give you an estimate value of how much compensation you could claim.

Yes, we handle most medical negligence claims on a no win no fee basis. With a no win no fee claim, there’s no financial risk to you if your claim doesn’t succeed and there’s also nothing to pay upfront.

If your claim is successful, the majority of our fees will be paid by your opponent.

If you wish to make a no win no fee claim, you will need to enter into an agreement that’s linked to a suitable insurance policy – we’ll explain all of this in more detail before we begin working for you.

If your loved one died in unusual or unclear circumstances, their death will be reported to a coroner who may decide to hold an inquest to establish the facts behind the death.

Sometimes evidence comes to light during the inquest that shows your loved one may have died as a result of negligent medical treatment. If this is the case, we could help you make a compensation claim and will do everything we can to get you a settlement that could provide security for you and your family.

If you would like our experts to represent you at an inquest, it’s important that you contact us as soon as you can. This gives us time to assemble medical records and other evidence to put us in the strongest position to help.

No, coroners can’t rule that your loved one died because of medical negligence. However, their investigation can be very useful as it could provide the evidence needed for our lawyers to prove that negligence took place.

Although a coroner can’t rule negligence outright, they can make a conclusion of ‘neglect’. This has a different meaning in law than ‘negligence’, as it means there was a gross failure to provide any basic medical attention and that there’s a clear and direct causal connection between the gross failure and the death.

Coroners have a duty to make a prevention of future death reports. These are important for families who are seeking changes to make sure nobody else goes through the same thing.