We are Medical Negligence Solicitors. We deal with a wide range of compensation claims arising out of medical negligence. This includes
Whether the medical practitioner has been negligent will depend on whether the treatment you received was to a standard that could reasonably have been expected. The practitioner would have a defence to your claim for medical negligence if the treatment you received was in line with the views of a responsible body of medical opinion. You also need to prove that your injuries would not have occurred if it were not for the negligence of the medical practitioner. In some cases, injury may have occurred anyway. For example, the injury could be due to the actual illness being treated.
At some stage in your claim, it will be necessary to obtain a medical report from a medical expert. This is to advise whether the treatment provided was negligent and whether the injury would have occurred anyway even if the negligent treatment had not taken place.
Keep a record of any financial losses you have suffered as a result of medical negligence . This will include for example any wage slips or P60s. You should also keep any receipts for other losses which may include
You only have 3 years to issue Court Proceedings from the date you first knew, or could reasonably have been expected to know, that you have suffered an injury caused by the fault of a medical practitioner. This could be the date of the mistake or some time late if you did not know you had been injured at the time the mistake was made. If Court Proceedings are not issued within 3 years of that date you would usually be unable to pursue your claim further. The Courts can however waive this 3-year time limit if it can be shown that there was a valid reason why you did not pursue the claim sooner.
When making a medical negligence claim, you have 3 years to issue court proceedings from either the date you suffered the injury or the date you first knew or could be reasonably expected to know that you have suffered an injury due to medical treatment (or lack of it). In most cases, once this 3 year time period has elapsed and you have not proceeded to make a claim – you will be unable to make a medical negligence claim. However, the Courts do have the power to allow claims to proceed outside of the 3-year time limit in some cases so get in touch should you feel that you may have a medical negligence claim.
The length of time from first issuing court proceedings to an agreement being reached and compensation being awarded will vary from case to case. Some cases can be resolved over a year or two depending on the injuries suffered and the nature of the potential negligence that occurred. The severity of your illness or injury will also impact the amount of time taken to make a claim.
For complicated claims, you may find that your case will take much longer to be resolved. As your claim progresses we will provide you with realistic indications of the likely amount of time it will take to resolve your claim.
In order to make a medical negligence claim, get in touch with a member of our team. We mainly represent clients in Sunderland, Newcastle & The North East of the UK but we also represent clients across the whole of England and Wales. When you contact us to start to make a claim we will carry out an initial assessment of your claim and advise you whether we consider there are reasonable prospects of you winning your case.
To succeed with a claim for compensation for medical negligence, it will be necessary to prove both that the care and treatment given were negligent and that your injury has been suffered as a result of that negligence.
A doctor or nurse is negligent if their care, management or treatment of a patient fell below an acceptable level that no responsible body of medical or nursing opinion, as the case may be, would condone. If there is a responsible body of professional opinion that would support the conduct of the doctors or nurses involved, then there was no negligence, even if most doctors or nurses would have acted differently and with a better outcome.
Even if it is proved that the treatment was negligent, this alone would not be enough to win a case. A claim can only succeed if it can be proven that it is more likely than not that the negligence caused the patient to suffer injury.
The usual test is whether “but for” the negligence, the injury would not have occurred. This involves a comparison of the likely outcome without negligence, and the actual outcome after negligence has occurred. The difference between the two outcomes is “the injury”. If without the negligence, there would have been the same outcome from the treatment then the claim will fail.
The success rate of medical negligence claims varies greatly depending on the individual circumstances of treatment and the injuries suffered. As your claim progresses it will be necessary to obtain medical reports from similar types of medical experts to those that provided the treatment to advise whether the treatment provided fell below an acceptable level that no responsible body of medical or nursing opinion would condone. Very few medical negligence claims are the same but given our years of experience with these types of claims, it is likely that we have previously supported a client in making a similar claim to yourself. We can use this knowledge and experience to advise you on how best to proceed with your claim and on the likely chances of success.
We can represent you in a wide range of different medical negligence claims including:
We have provided specialist medical negligence advice and support to clients for well over 25 years. Based in the North-East of England we act for clients based in all areas of the North-East of England including Sunderland, Newcastle, Durham, Blyth, Cramlington, Middlesbrough, Stockton on Tees, Darlington and Northumberland. We can also represent clients in most areas of England and Wales taking advantage of technology such as video conferencing. Your claim will be dealt with throughout by one of our Senior Solicitors with whom you will have a contact for advice and assistance at all stages of your claim.
All of our solicitors have over 20 years experience of in dealing with injury claims. We pride ourselves on our compassionate, personal and professional approach to representation for all of our clients. We deal with medical negligence claims on a no-win, no-fee basis meaning that you will not enter into any loans or credit agreements and you will not have to pay our fees should your claim be unsuccessful. Visit our ‘No Win No Fee’ page for more information.
