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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Medical negligence

72 replies

Ste1115 · 21/02/2021 11:28

Has anyone ever had a successful medical negligence claim? My paperwork is with the expert awaiting final reports before court im just wondering what the process is

OP posts:
LizzieBirmingham · 21/02/2021 11:29

I defend medical negligence claims sometimes. What are your specific questions?

LadyMacbethWasMisunderstood · 21/02/2021 14:06

Success is very fact specific. Do you have any particular questions?

MatildaTheCat · 21/02/2021 14:08

Yes I have.

typicalvalues · 21/02/2021 14:08

Law firms rarely take such cases on unless there is a high chance of winning in my experience.

Chwaraeteg · 21/02/2021 14:51

I had a claim against the NHS, which I settled out of court in Dec 2019. I settled for £40, 000 plus legal fees. The whole process, start to finish took about 18 months and was suprisingly straight forward. I decided not to go to court for 2 reasons 1) my solicitor calculated that the court wouldn't have awarded more than a thousand or two more than yhe offer 2) The mistake the GP made was unlikely to occur again.

My case was taken on a no-win no-fee basis. It may have been quite an unusual set of circumstances in my case because I already had a written apology from the local head of commissioning before I contacted a solicitor.

Original poster
Ste1115 · 21/02/2021 14:59

Mine is against the NHS. They have admitted liability but denied causation. The expert is now drawing up his final report. It was on a no win no fee basis.

Im just wondering the preliminary reports show 16 counts of negligence which caused my injury.

Is the expert likely to change his mind?
How long does it usually take once NHS resolutions have looked at the claim and its been sent back to expert. Roughly how long to completion?

Thank you

OP posts:
Luke423 · 21/02/2021 15:02

Sorry if this is thread creep but something mentioned upthread is of particular interest. If an NHS organisation has, as the result of a complaint, acknowledged that their service was inadequate/made a mistake does that make success in a lawsuit more likely? I'm considering going down this path; this wasn't my intention to begin with but the way the organisation handled the complaint was so evasive and basically dishonest that I feel they've brought it on themselves. It seems to be the only language they speak and duty of candour is just something other people do.

Chwaraeteg · 21/02/2021 15:58

It does make it a bit easier of they have admitted to making a mistake. You basically have to prove 3 things to win a negligence claim 1) you were owe a duty of care, 2) There was a breach of that duty: (the breach has to be pretty serious to be considered negligence, so this is the tricky bit, hence why admitting a mistake happened doesn't automatically mean negligence has occured) 3) the breach led to you suffering some sort of damage/loss (also can be tricky to prove if there is not a clear lune between the medical professionals action and your loss, or if something else has hapoened to exacerbate the situation).

I definitely relate to your description of the NHS response to their mistakes as 'evasive' and dishonest. That was the compelling factor in why I decided to press ahead with legal action. I really had to push to find out why mistakes were made in my care and just to get information about what was hapoening to my own body!

Good luck with your case. I hope you find a good solicitor.

Spoonofnutella · 21/02/2021 16:13

I'd say you've another 18 months to go. If the defendant has denied causation then the next step would be to issue court proceedings. After that, matters will be governed by a court timetable. Make sure you have a reputable solicitor that is a member of AvMA. Are you paying for the expert reports? If so, make sure they have taken out ATE on your behalf. Lots of people are successful in claims - hence why there are solicitors making money doing this work. Good luck!

Zebraaa · 21/02/2021 16:22

Just out of curiosity, will you all be going with private medical care with your pay outs in the future?

Original poster
Ste1115 · 21/02/2021 16:36

18 months ohhh no. My solicitor said its normal for them to deny causation.

OP posts:
Dunkindonuts8 · 21/02/2021 16:42

It depends on the other side. If they want to deny it all the way to trial then yes, you're looking at 18 months. If you're concerned then speak to your solicitor - that's what they're being paid for 🙂

LizzieBirmingham · 21/02/2021 16:42

Sorry if this is thread creep but something mentioned upthread is of particular interest. If an NHS organisation has, as the result of a complaint, acknowledged that their service was inadequate/made a mistake does that make success in a lawsuit more likely?

It depends. In order to successfully sue for medical negligence you have to show both that negligence occurred, and that you suffered loss as a result. An admission of liability obviously assists with the first of those things, and saves you the hassle of proving that the party you are suing behaved negligently. However, they may still argue that despite their negligence, no harm was caused to you. You have to be able to prove that it was. I would say though that this is usually easier to prove, assuming harm has actually occurred.

An admission that a service was inadequate is also not the same as an admission of negligence. Negligence requires three things:

  1. for there to be an ordinary or reasonable course of action
  2. for the party accused of negligence to have failed to follow that course of action
  3. for the actions of the party accused of negligence to be so unreasonable that no reasonably competent member of their profession, acting with due skill and care, could have taken it.

Therefore, you might have a situation where a party accepts that their behaviour fell short of the ideal standard, without actually meeting the requirements of the test for negligence.

Original poster
Ste1115 · 21/02/2021 17:03

Thank you everyone. My expert preliminary report showedn16 breaches of care which led to my injury. Is it likely an expert every changes their mind once the other party deny?

There is photographic evidence if the injuries. My medical notes showed an injury occurred whilst I was in hospital

OP posts:
LindaEllen · 21/02/2021 17:08

My mum works in the medical negligence team for a solicitor. She says the vast majority of cases she looks through gets dropped. But if you have any specific questions feel free to inbox me and I can ask her.

RaidersoftheLostAardvark · 21/02/2021 17:10

I don't think Mumsnet can help you here- it entirely depends on the individual scenario. An 'injury' covers anything from unnecessary blood tests (irrelevance) through to loss of limb (massively relevant). Whether the acts of negligence actually lead to whatever injury you had is pretty crucial, and may not be straightforward to establish. Your solicitor & your own expert witness should be giving you their opinion on likelihood of success.

typicalvalues · 21/02/2021 17:12

@LizzieBirmingham

Sorry if this is thread creep but something mentioned upthread is of particular interest. If an NHS organisation has, as the result of a complaint, acknowledged that their service was inadequate/made a mistake does that make success in a lawsuit more likely?

It depends. In order to successfully sue for medical negligence you have to show both that negligence occurred, and that you suffered loss as a result. An admission of liability obviously assists with the first of those things, and saves you the hassle of proving that the party you are suing behaved negligently. However, they may still argue that despite their negligence, no harm was caused to you. You have to be able to prove that it was. I would say though that this is usually easier to prove, assuming harm has actually occurred.

An admission that a service was inadequate is also not the same as an admission of negligence. Negligence requires three things:

  1. for there to be an ordinary or reasonable course of action
  2. for the party accused of negligence to have failed to follow that course of action
  3. for the actions of the party accused of negligence to be so unreasonable that no reasonably competent member of their profession, acting with due skill and care, could have taken it.

Therefore, you might have a situation where a party accepts that their behaviour fell short of the ideal standard, without actually meeting the requirements of the test for negligence.

That's what I was trying to say upthread, but some 'expert' came on to debunk everything I had written.

I've been through this with several personal injury firms and none of them would take the case unless there was a financial loss (loss of earnings) or an ongoing future loss of earnings or significant extra costs as a result of the injury sustained.

That is why I asked the OP whether if the child had significant injury due to the earlier failure to diagnose.

Honestly, just google medical negligence solicitors - they will review your evidence and tell you whether or not they are willing to take a case.

SilverGlassHare · 21/02/2021 17:13

Yes. Or rather after one parent died, the other got a payout because the hospital admitted negligence. I was involved in a lot of the case.

typicalvalues · 21/02/2021 17:14

@Ste1115

Thank you everyone. My expert preliminary report showedn16 breaches of care which led to my injury. Is it likely an expert every changes their mind once the other party deny?

There is photographic evidence if the injuries. My medical notes showed an injury occurred whilst I was in hospital

Who is the 'expert'? A solicitor?
SilverGlassHare · 21/02/2021 17:14

It was settled out of court, I should have said.

typicalvalues · 21/02/2021 17:17

There are actually two separate cases here.

  1. Case of negligence by first opthalmologist
  2. Case requiring compensation for failure to diagnose resulting in damages to your dd.

There are 2 different paths you need to go down.

squirrelloveranon · 21/02/2021 17:18

Just realise you are probably making someone's life hell by pursuing this claim so unless your injury is permanent and life changing the decent thing is to let it go.

combatbarbie · 21/02/2021 17:29

Why should she let it go? If they were negligent and have injured her why should she let it drop? Actions have repercussions unfortunately.

Luke423 · 21/02/2021 17:32

Thanks to those who've responded to my bit. In my case the people responsible deserve no sympathy for their life being made "hell"; they've sown the wind.

CharlotteRose90 · 21/02/2021 17:34

@squirrelloveranon

Just realise you are probably making someone's life hell by pursuing this claim so unless your injury is permanent and life changing the decent thing is to let it go.
I highly doubt someone would claim for something small. Mistakes happen but why should we pay the price for something they do. In my case the person said I did not have the condition and refused to treat me or send me for tests. Thank god they put it in writing on my notes as 8 weeks later I was proven correct through a private diagnosis. The consultant I had was useless and deserved being struck off. I have to live with a life changing illness and thanks to her incompetence an operation that could have been avoided.