Clinical Negligence
Claims against Healthcare Professionals
Accidents and injuries are an all too common part of life. Unfortunately when they happen they can cause a great deal of pain and anxiety, and accidents that happen as a result of medical treatment or hospital care are amongst the most stressful for people to deal with.
At Trusted Claims we understand how devastating it can be to have suffered an accident as a result of medical treatment, and that it can be a very taxing experience in trying to make a personal injury claim in those circumstances. The team at Trusted Claims have a long history of acting as reliable legal advisors to people that want to pursue Clinical Negligence claims, and will their experience and insight to settle your claim as quickly as possible.
Personal Injury claims for Clinical Negligence can be quite complex, but we at Trusted Claims aim to make the process as simple as possible.
Step 1: The Duty of Care
In a personal injury claim for Clinical Negligence, the first step is to set out that a pursuer – the person bringing the claim – was owed a 'duty of care' by the defender. The idea of a 'duty of care' can seem a little strange, but the point of it is that, a defender will owe the pursuer a 'duty of care' when it is 'reasonably forseeable' by the defender e.g. a doctor that a person in the position of the pursuer e.g. a patient would be affected by something that they did or did not do.
For a long time in the UK, the law works in such a way that medical professionals do owe a 'duty of care' to their patients. While this may be the law, any potential claim for clinical negligence will still need to set this out.
Step 2: Breach of the Duty of Care
Having identified that a claimant is owed a 'duty of care' the next step is to show that the duty was breached. To be precise, what needs to be shown is that the pursuer suffered an injury because of whatever the defender did or did not do, and breach the 'duty of care'.
To show that a medical professional breached their 'duty of care', certain criteria need to be met:
- It needs to be shown that the action or omission of the defender was voluntary.
This criterion is designed to only hold clinicians accountable for things that they volunteer to do. It would be unfair if the law was designed to hold them responsible for things that they are forced to do, or not to do.
- A Pursuer will need to show that the Defenders actions or omissions have as their reasonable and probable consequences, cause some kind of harm to the pursuer.
The point here is that it needs to be likely that what a medical professional does or does not do, will result in a particular kind of harm to be suffered. An example of this might be that a Nurse fails to adequately clean and dress an open wound, and that an infection may have been allowed to develop.
- A Pursuer will need to prove that a Defender was being negligent.
This is the most difficult part of a claim alleging clinical negligence. Pursuers will need to prove that the defenders conduct has fallen below the standard of the reasonable person in the position of the defender.
More specifically, the pursuer must prove that the conduct of the defender's conduct fell below that of the reasonable e.g. doctor. Courts will be interested to hear what the typical practice of medical professionals in similar circumstances would be, in deciding on whether or not someone was clinically negligent.
It can be very difficult to pursue clinical negligence claims. Often in Medicine there is a need for medical professionals to use their own experience in deciding on whether or not to do something to a patient. And there are often different groups of medical professionals that have completely different opinions about what is the best thing to do, or not do in particular circumstances.
This is why it can be very hard to pursue a clinical negligence claim. It does not matter that one group of medical professionals disagrees with another approach to for example patient treatment or clinical work. Pursuers need to show that a medical professional was negligent, because they decided to do or not do something that no other professional skilled in a certain area would have followed the course of action taken by a defender.
Start Your Claim Today
We at Trusted Claims are regularly involved in handling Clinical Negligence claims, and will manage the entire process of handling the claim. We understand how traumatic suffering an accident during a hospital stay or following medical treatment can be, and we can be trusted to pursue our clients claims with professionalism and integrity.
Call us today on 01252 354444 or fill out our easy enquiry form Start Your Claim