ISSN: 1840-4529
Clinical negligence, sometimes also known as medical negligence, might happen when you’re receiving treatment from a healthcare professional. It occurs when substandard medical treatment is provided, leaving the victim with injuries which can often be quite serious. Whether you’re making a claim against an NHS practitioner or one working in private practice, the facts are the same; mistakes were made, you’ve suffered as a result and you shouldn’t be left paying the costs. Clinical negligence claims can be made against most types of medical professional. If your treatment was given by a team of medical staff, the cause of the negligence can be harder to pin down, and your injury might actually have been caused by wider processes instead of the actions of one person. If this applies to your case, your solicitor might make your claim against a wider body, such as a hospital management team or NHS trust. You’ll need to be examined by an expert medical professional, who will then produce an official report on the extent of your injuries and the amount of damage they have caused. This will help to understand how much you might receive in compensation if you win your case. Your solicitor will help to arrange this for you and talk you through the process, so there’s no need to worry. This is where the expert medical reports become important. Your clinical negligence solicitor will ensure you are examined by a medical expert who will assess your injuries and if they decide on the balance of probabilities that the medical professional in question was responsible for the harm you suffered, you’ll be free to continue your compensation claim. Claiming compensation isn’t a case of ‘punishing’ the medical practitioner. It’s a way of giving recognition to the suffering you’ve had to go through and making sure you don’t end up financially worse off.