Medical Negligence Claims

Medical negligence compensation claims are claims for personal injuries that have occurred as a result of the carelessness or negligence of a medical or health professional, such as a doctor, dentist, surgeon or midwife.
Medical negligence claims take many forms and arise from many types of medical treatment. Some of the most common types of claim include:

Pregnancy-related injuries: 
Expectant mothers are monitored during pregnancy to ensure the health and well-being of both mother and baby are protected and to monitor the development of the baby. If monitoring is not carried out regularly, or if risk factors are identified but not followed up by appropriate medical care, the mother or baby could be put at risk. If, for example, risk factors that could indicate pre-eclampsia are ignored, full-blown eclampsia can develop which can be fatal to both mother and baby. Other conditions such as Erb's Palsy can also result where a baby has been identified as having a particularly large head, for example, and extra care needs to be taken during labour. Where due care is not taken, paralysis to the baby's arm or hand can occur. In situation such as these there may be cause to make a medical negligence claim and legal advice should be sought.

Birth injuries: 
Whilst most births progress smoothly, sometimes mistakes are made during birth which can have serious or fatal consequences to mother, baby or both. For example the wrongful or unnecessary use of forceps or ventouse can result in scarring to the baby's face or head. An incident such as this may result in a compensation claims if negligence can be proved.

Surgical error: 
Surgery invariably involves a relatively high degree of risk and sometimes surgical procedures do not go according to plan. Sometimes the outcome of surgery is disappointing but not necessarily the result of negligence. At other times, however, surgical procedures do not go to plan because of carelessness or negligence on the part of the medical professional and a compensation claim can ensue. In these cases, a failure by the treating surgeon to carry out the surgery to an acceptable standard needs to be established.

Hospital acquired infections & poor standards of care: 
When someone goes into hospital for treatment they expect a safe, clean and sterile environment in which to receive their treatment and to recover. However, in recent years serious infections such as MRSA and C Difficile have been commonly found in hospitals. Contracting infections such as these when you are already receiving treatment for other conditions or injuries can be traumatic, both psychologically and physically. If there were, for instance, unreasonable delays or a lack of care in identifying and treating hospital infections, then a person may have grounds to make a compensation claim.

Sometimes, the standard of medical or nursing care an individual receives in hospital does not meet reasonable expectation. This can result in a delayed or complicated recovery necessitating further treatment which would otherwise be avoidable. If, for example, a patient's wound is not kept clean and regularly dressed during their hospital stay, the recovery could be protracted and they may have just cause to make a personal injury claim.

Mis-diagnosis: 
If a patient has been misdiagnosed then its possible that they will be given the wrong treatment or medicine, which could have serious problems for the patient. A delayed diagnosis may also mean that treatment cannot begin as early as possible and this may hamper or impact on the patients ability to recover. In either situation there may be grounds for making a medical negligence claim.