What is Medical Negligence and are you entitled to make a claim?

Medical negligence is when a healthcare provider has breached their duty of care causing unnecessary injury or damage to the patient.

Healthcare providers are held to a high standard in respect of the care owed to patients and occasionally, the standard of care given falls below that which is expected. 

What are some of the different types of medical negligence?

Misdiagnosis – This is when a healthcare provider gives a wrong diagnosis in respect of a condition or illness which can result in inadequate or incorrect treatment, ultimately delaying the patient’s recovery or, in some cases causing further damage.   

Delayed diagnosis – This may occur when a patient has not received a diagnosis in a timely manner which may lead to a poorer long term outcome or extended period of suffering.

Surgical errors – Errors made during an operation. 

Anaesthesia errors – This may involve incorrect administration of anaesthetic drugs, giving too much or too little of the medication for example.

Prescription and medication errors – Errors involving the incorrect prescribing, dispensing or administration of prescription medication including failures to monitoring the effects of medications. 

Pregnancy and birth injuries – This could include failure to diagnose serious conditions such as pre-eclampsia or ectopic pregnancy, failure to recognise or adequately monitor for foetal distress during labour and failure to provide adequate care leading to complications with either mum or baby. 

What do you need to prove?

 Breach of Duty – The first obstacle is proving that the healthcare provider has breached their duty of care owed to the patient. That is, they have acted in a a way which is beyond the realms of any reasonable practitioner in their job role.

Causation – The second stage is to consider whether any breaches of duty have led to damage or injury to the patient.

It is necessary to prove both breach of duty and causation of damage in order to prove there has been negligence. 

Damages – After establishing the healthcare provider has breached their duty of care which has caused the patient damage or injury, the value of injuries must exceed the Court’s small claims limit of £1,500. 

If you think you may have grounds for a medical negligence claim, do not hesitate to contact our Clinical Negligence Team at Jordans Solicitors who will be more than happy to discuss and assist.