Medical Negligence Claims

Home > Medical Negligence Claims

In this guide, we discuss medical negligence claims including the eligibility requirements that need to be met in order for you to have valid grounds to continue with your case. We also look at how evidence can support your case and what you should consider gathering.

medical negligence claims

Medical Negligence Claims

Next, this guide explores how long you have to seek medical negligence compensation. We then outline how a value could be assigned to your case and what could be included in your settlement if successful.

Finally, this guide examines the benefits of instructing a No Win No Fee solicitor and the terms under which they offer their helpful services.

Contact our team of advisors today to see if you can work with a solicitor from our panel or to discuss your potential claim in more detail. To reach them, you can:

Select A Section

  1. Medical Negligence Claims – When Are You Eligible To Seek Compensation?
  2. What Evidence Do You Need In A Medical Negligence Claim?
  3. Is There A Time Limit For Claiming A Medical Negligence Payout?
  4. How Much Medical Negligence Compensation Could You Receive?
  5. Use No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Solicitors To Help You Claim
  6. Learn More About How To Make Medical Negligence Claims

Medical Negligence Claims – When Are You Eligible To Seek Compensation?

All medical professionals, including doctors, nurses and surgeons, owe a duty of care to their patients. This means they are required to provide the minimum standard of care expected of them. If a medical professional provides a  substandard level of care, this is a breach of duty. 

To claim medical negligence compensation, you must be able to show that:

  • You were owed a duty of care.
  • The duty of care owed to you was breached.
  • As a result of this breach, you experienced avoidable harm.

Below, you can find examples of how a patient could suffer further harm in a medical setting.

Misdiagnosis Claims

Being misdiagnosed can impact your quality of life and could occur in different ways. You could receive a diagnosis for an illness you don’t have, resulting in you receiving treatment you don’t need. An example of this could be that you’re given an incorrect cancer diagnosis when your medical reports are interpreted incorrectly, leading to you receiving unnecessary chemotherapy that makes you sick.

Alternatively, a medical professional might fail to diagnose your illness, meaning you don’t receive the required treatment, and your condition worsens. This could occur if you had cancer, but your file was mixed up with another patient’s, meaning the cancer was missed and spread to other parts of your body due to delayed treatment.

Birth Injury Claims

During the birthing procedure, if a medical professional doesn’t uphold their duty of care, the mother or baby could endure harm. For example, if excessive force is used during birth when it was not necessary, the baby could suffer from Erb’s palsy which is damage to the brachial plexus, a group of nerves in the arm.

Alternatively, the mother could suffer a traumatic birth and be left with an infection due to poor hygiene measures.

Medication Error Claims

Medication errors can vary with some involving patients being given the wrong medication, the wrong dosage or the wrong prescription. It could also involve a medical professional administering medication to you incorrectly. If this happens, it could mean a patient experiences complications that cause them avoidable harm.

Please note, not all incidents of harm caused in a medical setting is a result of a medical professional breaching their duty of care. As such, it may not always be possible to make a medical negligence claim.

To discuss the eligibility criteria for medical negligence claims in more detail, please speak to an advisor today.

What Evidence Do You Need In A Medical Negligence Claim?

Evidence can help support medical negligence claims by showing that the unnecessary harm you suffered was due to receiving care from a medical professional that fell below the correct standard. It can also help show how the medical negligence has affected your life.

As such, you might benefit from gathering:

  • Copies of your medical records
  • Diary entries of your symptoms and treatments
  • Contact details of any witnesses, such as those who were present during appointments
  • Photographs of any visible avoidable harm you’ve suffered

Providing you have an eligible case, one of the solicitors on our panel could help you gather evidence to support your medical negligence claim as part of the services they provide. Contact one of our advisors now for a free case assessment.

Is There A Time Limit For Claiming A Medical Negligence Payout?

According to the Limitation Act 1980, you typically have three years from the date the medical negligence occurred to begin your claim. Alternatively, the three years could start from the date you gained awareness that medical negligence had happened. This is the date of knowledge. 

However, there are exceptions to the general rule. For example, if someone lacks the capacity to act alone, a litigation friend could be appointed by the courts to act on their behalf. Here, the time limit would be paused indefinitely. Yet, if someone gained the capacity to act alone, and no case had already been made, the individual would have three years to begin their medical negligence claim.

Also, if someone under 18 is harmed, they won’t be able to claim for themselves. Again, a litigation friend could be appointed by the courts, with a pause being placed on the time limit. Alternatively, the claimant could wait for their 18th birthday to claim for themselves and would have three years to begin their case from this date.

To have the time limits for medical negligence claims explained in more detail, contact our team of advisors now.

How Much Medical Negligence Compensation Could You Receive?

After making a successful medical negligence claim, you could receive a settlement consisting of up to two heads of claim. General damages are the first, compensating for the suffering and pain you experience because of the medical negligence.

A document called the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) could be utilised to help assign a value to the general damages aspect of your case. This document provides guideline valuation brackets for different types of harm. You may also need to attend an independent medical assessment. Solicitors can also use the report from this to help value general damages alongside the JCG.

Below is a table of figures from the JCG corresponding to different types of harm. Please note that each case differs, so we cannot guarantee your compensation. As such, you should use these figures as a guide only.

Compensation Table

HarmCompensationNotes
Kidney£169,400 to £210,400
Loss of both kidneys, or serious and permanent damage to them.
£30,770 to £44,880
Loss of one kidney with other undamaged.
BowelsUp to £184,200
Double incontinence, including loss of both the natural bowel function and urinary function.
In the region of £79,920
Faecal urgency and passive incontinence, causing embarrassment and distress, such as following an injury giving birth.
BladderUp to £140,660
Function and control completely lost.
£63,980 to £79,930
Some pain and incontinence, due to the control being seriously impaired.
Spleen£20,800 to £26,290
Loss of spleen with ongoing internal infection risk due to a damaged immune system.
£4,350 to £8,640
The risks in the bracket above are not present or are minimal.

Can You Claim For Financial Losses?

Special damages are the second head of claim, compensating you for reasonable financial losses you’ve incurred due to medical negligence. You should evidence any relevant losses when seeking compensation to reimburse them.

Evidence you could supply includes:

  • Receipts to show any medical costs, such as prescriptions you have paid for.
  • Payslips to show any loss of earnings.
  • Invoices to show any domestic care costs.

For more information on compensation for medical negligence claims, contact our team of advisors now. 

Use No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Solicitors To Help You Claim

You should consider instructing a solicitor on a No Win No Fee basis, should you have a valid case and want to seek legal representation. A Conditional Fee Agreement is a type of No Win No Fee agreement, and it can typically mean:

  • You don’t have to pay upfront fees to begin working with a solicitor.
  • You won’t pay any running costs to progress your case.
  • If your case wins, your solicitor will take a success fee, which has a legal cap and is only a small percentage of the compensation you receive.
  • If your case doesn’t succeed, a success fee won’t be taken.

Our solicitors offer this type of agreement and have years of experience dealing with medical negligence claims. As such, they can help you through the different aspects of the claims process and answer any questions you have as your case progresses.

To find out more about how our solicitors could help and to discuss claiming for medical negligence, contact our team of advisors. To do so, you can:

Learn More About How To Make Medical Negligence Claims

We also provide helpful guides on personal injury claims, some of which you can find below:

For some external resources, please look here:

We hope this guide has answered your questions about medical negligence claims. If you require any other information, please contact an advisor on the number above.

Writer Will Grainger

Editor Meg Moot