Has anyone ever fought / won a medical negligence claim?

[Easy]

Since my hip went wrong last year, I've wondered whether to investigate a negligence claim.

I keep telling myself that I should just get on with life, but then that my life was on hold for a year, and I've lost my confidence (and career) as a result of it.

I'm not normally litigious, but just wondered.

Easy sorry I don't know but waht are the circumstances?

What went wrong, Easy?

Fought one about problems dd1 had when she was born due to medicine i was prescribed, and facts were hiddenf rom me about side effects but didn't evenget it to court. Tried twice.

In a nutshell

I've had abnormal hips/joints from birth.
Aged 2 had steel plates put in left leg/hip with screws to hold it together.
Aged 42 had hip replacement. discussed situation at length with surgeon. Surgeon spent 5 hours taking out old screws and stuff to fit new hip. Left a gaping screw hole across my thigh bone. DIDN'T TELL ME, OR PHYSIOTHERAPISTS.
3 months after op started walking. Thigh bone shattered, leaving me unable to walk for nearly a year. Another surgeon put it all together.

its very important that you go to a specialist medical negligence solicitor not just a personal injury solicitors or worse, a claims company. obviously depends on what the problems are and if the hospital were liable/negligent for your suffering. Whats the details? Challinors Lyon Clarke or Anthony Collins in Brum are v good

ouch!

There is a time limit as well fro suing

Think Leigh Day solicitors handle a lot of medical negligence cases, may be worth getting in touch with them.
Sounds awful.

time limit is 3 years from the date of "incident" or in the case of a child, the day of his/her 21st birthday whichever is the longer

Yes I know about the time limit. I'm now about 20 months from my first op. so need to decide.

I know it'll cost me just to find out.

One of the reasons I keep wanting to do it is that I don't want my surgeon to take on another case where he's 'out of his depth' (which I think he was) and do something similar to someone else. I'm sure he's fine with standard worn-out hips.

The 2nd surgeon specialises in difficult cases, and I feel should have done the job first time round

Easy - it shouldnb;t cost you to find out as you will probably have legal expense insurance with your home insurance and solicitor will do it on a no win no fee. Pretty sure contingency is for criminal injuries only. In any event a lawyer will talk to you initially for free

do a search on google and you'll find lots of people to advise you. Problem is you'll have to get another doctor to say the first one was negligent - without that you don't stand a chance. I've considered this but didn't actually do it as its very hard to get a doctor to say for a court (whatever they tell you privately) that another doctor was negligent. You will have to pay for a medical specialist to give their opinion, in the unlikely event of finding a doctor who will testify you will easily get a solicitor on no win no fee if your household insurance doesn't cover it.

a specialist solicitor will have access to a bank of medico-legal experts who are available and willing to examine and give evidence in cases like this Easy. I think Freckle's dh is a med neg lawyer

Thanks,
I'm really undecided about whether to take this further

But then thats in line with my general lack of motivation.

flying visit - you may want to check out Action for the Victims of Medical Accidents. www.avma.org.uk/index.asp

You could make a complaint through the NHS complaints scheme. You'll have to say you aren't considering legal action but could still do so later. www.avma.org.uk/index.asp Only have 12 months from when you knew something was wrong - in this case when a second doctor saw you.