Tips for Making a Medical Error Claim for Compensation

At some point during our lives, we all receive medical treatment, whether from a doctor, a dentist or some other healthcare professional. On a daily basis people suffer and sometimes die because the medical treatment that they received is not as good as it could or should have been.

On the whole, healthcare errors result in little or no harm to the patient and often, the patient is not even aware that a mistake has been made. However, there are also incidents where something has gone wrong and as a result, the patient suffers a serious injury. A mistake can take various forms, for example, a slip-up during an operation, a missed diagnosis, prescribing the wrong medication, failure to identify the risks of a procedure.

Even in such cases, it is not automatically guaranteed that you are entitled to compensation; this depends on the type of mistake and the circumstances in which it was made. Mistakes are often understandable, as health care professionals are human and everyone makes occasional errors, especially when they are under immense pressure.

To be able to successfully recover compensation, you have to prove that the medical professional was negligent, in that their conduct fell below the standard which any reasonable member of the profession could consider acceptable and injury or loss was caused as a result. Although there is a general consensus that NHS litigation is spiralling out of control and there is a surge in compensation claims, there are an estimated 850,000 adverse incidents in the NHS a year and around only 1% of those injured make a claim.

The majority of people that are affected by some form of medical mistake or oversight simply want an explanation and an apology. Based on this information, it can therefore, be argued that the medical profession should have a greater willingness to recognise that mistakes are made. Failure to acknowledge this leaves the parties involved to believe that they have no other option that to pursue litigation; which in turn involves the injured parties in further trauma, as Medical negligence claims can be lengthy and are notoriously difficult to win, as the courts are keen to protect the integrity of the health profession and avoid a landslide of claims.

If you believe that you have received negligent treatment from a healthcare professional, the first step is to ask the person who treated you to explain what happened/ what went wrong. If you need help you can speak to your local Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) listed in the telephone directory, complaints manager at the NHS trust hospital or the primary care trust involved in your complaint.

Another good source of information is the Information Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS), a free and impartial independent service for people who wish to pursue a complaint about the NHS. These bodies may be able to resolve your concerns on the spot or provide you with details of how to pursue a complaint.