MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE LAW

UK medical negligence law can be technical and complex and to succeed in a compensation claim it is essential that you receive legal advice from a specialist solicitor.

Negligence arises when one person owes to another a duty of care and breaches that duty and reasonably foreseeable harm arises as a result of that breach. Medical negligence is the failure of a health care provider to treat and care for a patient with a reasonable degree of skill and care. If your doctor was careless, lacked proper skills or disregarded established rules, during your stay in hospital then there may be a finding of medical negligence. Hospitals can be liable to pay compensation for the negligence of their employees, including doctors, nurses and technicians.

The standard of a doctor or surgeon's care is measured against that of his or her peers. If a significant body of fellow practitioners would have acted in the same way confronted with the same circumstances a practitioner will not be found to be negligent. This current definition is outlined in the decision of "Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee (1957)".

The House of Lords has also determined in the case of "Bolitho-v-City & Hackney Health Authority 1997" that if one of a number of alternative methods of treatment was used even though it was supported by a body of medical practitioners, a finding of negligence may still result if the method of treatment did not stand up to logical analysis.

Medical negligence law determines that a legal claim for compensation must be settled or legal proceedings must have been issued within three years of the event causing the injury. Legal action will become statute barred if this time limit is exceeded however there are some exceptions to this rule.

• In claims for people under the age of 18 years, the three year clock does not start running until the claimant's eighteenth birthday.
• The limitation period begins to run from the date when the injury was first discovered which may be many years after the negligent act.
• For people who suffer from mental incapacity the time may never start to run.
• Judges have a discretion to override the time limits in appropriate circumstances. This discretion is rarely exercised however if a claim is outside the normal limitation period consideration should be given to an application to a judge to extend the period.

If you would like free advice just complete the contact form and a specialist solicitor who is a member of The Law Society panel of medical negligence experts will review your information and phone you immediately to discuss your compensation claim with no obligation and at no cost to you.