If you believe you
may have suffered as a result of medical negligence, what should
you do?
The Hugh James patients guide below
offers some useful tips and guidance on how to proceed with a claim
for medical negligence.
1 Make a note
Memories fade
very quickly and therefore it is very useful to keep a diary or
notes of what has happened to you. It will help you to
remember and to tell the full story to any solicitor you may
instruct.
It is also important to keep all
documentation such as letters from the hospital, appointment cards
and receipt for expenses as these will all be useful to assess any
claim. Also remember to take details of any phone calls you
make or receive, who you spoke to and when.
2 Research for a specialist medical
negligence solicitor
Medical negligence claims are
amongst one of the most complex areas
of law and therefore it is important that you only instruct a
specialist medical negligence solicitor. The Law Society and
a charity called AVMA (Action for Victims of Medical Accidents)
have formed panels of specialist solicitors so if your solicitor is
on either of the Law Society or AVMA Clinical Negligent Specialist
Panels then you can be assured that your solicitor is a
specialist.
It is also worth checking the
website of the firm to check the types of cases they have
previously carried out.
Chambers Legal Guide and Legal 500
Guide review law firms in the United Kingdom and can confirm
whether the firm you are considering instructing is specialist in
clinical negligence access to these publications is free on the
Internet.
Hugh James is one of the
largest teams of
clinical negligence specialist solicitors in the
United Kingdom including six members of either the Law Society
and AVMA Panels or both and we also have a specialist records
officer as well as medically qualified staff.
We are rated as leaders in our
field with the top rating in both Legal 500 and
Chambers Legal Guide.
3 How much will it cost you?
This is always a concern for all
victims of medical negligence. There are a number of ways of
funding a medical negligence compensation claim. Legal
Aid (public funding) is available for medical negligence if you are
financially eligible and will fund the entirety of the case subject
to certain limits.
Not all law firms in the United
Kingdom can offer Legal Aid as you have to have a specific
franchise and therefore it is important that if you are eligible
for Legal Aid that you should approach a firm that has a Legal Aid
Franchise.
You may have legal expense
insurance on your home contents insurance policy or other insurance
policies. This is often called family legal protection or
legal expenses insurance and may cover the costs of investigating
your claim and it is worth checking.
If you do not have any other way of
funding a claim such as Legal, Aid, insurance or any cover through,
say, your union, then a Conditional Fee Agreement (no
win no fee agreement) is an option. This means
there will be no charge to you for pursuing the claim and a
specialist firm should be able to obtain insurance to protect you
from any financial cost in the claim.
Hugh James has a Legal Aid
Franchise and are on a number of legal expenses insurance
panels and therefore can act for you under your legal expenses
insurance and we
offer a complete piece of mind no win no fee
agreement if it
is necessary, which means there is no financial risk
to our clients from the outset if your case is
accepted.
4 Can I speed up treatment or have
rehabilitation?
If the hospital or medical practice
will accept liability for your claim, then it is possible to have
private rehabilitation to help with your injuries
and to help you to
make the best
recovery possible. This does, however, depend upon the
defendant accepting responsibility.
5 How long will the case take?
This is a very
complex area of law and it can take some time to resolve claims,
particularly if they have to go all the way to a trial (which is
rare).
It usually
takes a number of months to obtain a medical report to assess
whether their hospital or doctors have been negligent and then a
letter of claim is normally sent to hospitals to set out your
case. The hospital then has four months to respond to
that letter and provide their response.
If the
defendants are reasonable and accept responsibility then this can
be sorted out in a matter of months rather than years but if the
defendants do defend the claim vigorously, then it can take a
number of years to resolve cases.
6 What do I have to prove to win?
To succeed in any medical
negligence claim you
have to show the treatment that was provided to you fell below the
acceptable standard of care. The only way of doing this is to
obtain a medical expert's report confirming that this is the
case.
You also have to show that the
unacceptable treatment has caused you an injury and the full extent
of that injury. This can also be a very complex
issue. If the expert's evidence proves these points then you
will have reasonable prospects of success but there is always the
possibility of the defendants obtaining alternative expert evidence
that it does not agree and this is where there can be a dispute as
to whether the defendant is liable.
7 Can a solicitor tell me straight away if I
have a good case?
It is very
difficult at the outset to provide a final opinion upon prospects
but an experienced solicitor should be able to tell you whether you
have a reasonable case to investigate at the outset.
If this is the
case, then the prospects of success would have to be reviewed once
the medical evidence is obtained and once we have heard from
the defendants as to what they say about the treatment.
Once the
medical evidence has been obtained and the defendants have
responded, then a final decision on prospects of success can be
taken.
It is
important to assess the case throughout and an experienced
solicitor can advise you on each step of the case.
8 Can we help?
Hugh James are one of the largest
and most respected medical negligence teams in the United Kingdom
and we provide free assessment to all clients that contact us and
we consider all forms of funding for your case and we can obtain initial advice
from our specialist panel of medical experts.
We are able to provide you with a
detailed assessment of your case from the outset and provide you
with risk free funding of your case as well as relying upon a past
record of great success for claimants so as to
ensure you
are fully compensated for all their injuries.
If you think we can help, then
please get in touch