CLINICAL NEGLIGENCE LAW & COMPENSATION CLAIMS

Clinical negligence law defines negligence as any act or omission which falls short of a standard to be expected of "the reasonable man." It is necessary to show that whatever the Doctor did or did not do fell below the standard of a reasonably competent Doctor in that field of medicine. The Doctor will be able to defend the compensation claim successfully, if it can shown that a responsible body of reputable Doctors in the relevant field would have acted in a similar manner. This means that a judge will hear evidence from experts and decide whether the actions taken were apropriate.

In the leading case of " Bolam - v - Friern Hospital Management Committee 1957" it was stated that a doctor must “act in accordance with a practice which is accepted as proper by a responsible body of men schooled in the particular art”.

Often there are several acceptable ways of doing something and this may mean that there is no negligence if an alternative method is chosen. The fact that another person would not have done things in the same way does not automatically mean that there was clinical negligence.

In the case of "Bolitho-v-City & Hackney Health Authority 1997" it was decided that where it could be demonstrated that the professional opinion was illogical then the judge can hold that opinion unreasonable.

CLINICAL NEGLIGENCE LAW REQUIREMENTS

• Duty of Care: There is no difficulty in proving that a Doctor owes a duty to a patient to take care of their wellbeing.
• Burden of Proof: The responsibility to prove that the Doctor was at fault, is upon the person claiming damages.
• Standard of Proof: The test is whether the claim can be proved, on a “balance of probabilities”
• Causation of Injury: It is necessary to establish that the failure by the doctor actually caused the injuries complained of.

SPECIALIST CLINICAL NEGLIGENCE LAW SOLICITORS

If you would like free advice and information from a specialist solicitor then just complete the contact form and a member of The Law Society panel of medical negligence experts will contact you by telephone to discuss your compensation claim.

In his report Making Amends, Sir Liam Donaldson recommends the creation of a new NHS Redress Scheme to be used when NHS care and treatment goes wrong. It is proposed that a national organization will administer the redress scheme which will offer remedial treatment, rehabilitation and care where needed; explanations and apologies and financial compensation where appropriate. Sir Liam Donaldson said: “Patients deserve to receive high quality healthcare from their NHS. And, for the vast majority of the millions of people treated every year, the NHS provides excellent, effective healthcare. However, patients occasionally do not receive the treatment they should and mistakes are sometimes made. Patients deserve to be told what happened when things go wrong and to be compensated if appropriate.” Under the proposals, the redress scheme will be initially applied to NHS hospitals and, if successful, the Department of Health will consider extending it to primary care. The full report is at www.doh.gov.uk/makingamends