Has anyone sued the NHS?

[duckduckmouse]

If so,

How long did the process take from collecting medical records (solicitors have requested these)

Did you have to go to court

How much were you awarded and what was it for?

I also disagree with suing the NHS. By all means take a complaint as highly as there is and take legal action against individuals. I certainly would not like to be a doctor or nurse when the NHS is stretched to breaking point and mistakes are happening all the time.

The NHS is not beyond reproach. If it has damaged you, you are, of course, entitled to sue. Do not feel guilty about it. You are not pissing on a national treasure. It is an institution that has failed you. No, I am not a lawyer. I am someone who has suffered dreadful maternity “care”.

@AtSea1979 I sincerely hope you never incur an injury or costs like I have. If you do, then eat your words!

@shhhfastasleep this is what happened to me, did you sue?

Definitely sue then, Drs have insurance for this. (I never say yes to suing the NHS parents are Drs as I will be god willing) people regardless of their profession need to be held accountable for their actions.

I was too emotionally broken to do it within time. It took me three years to pluck up the courage to complain. The apology I received was feeble . I didn’t have the courage to fight any more. My dd is now 10. I only had enough fight to get well again for her sake.

The NHS doesn't have insurance for most things related to treatment, the self insure. The private hospitals and doctors do have insurance. There is cover for medical trials available but only from a very limited number of insurers.

Either way who cares whether they money comes from general taxation or not? The fact that it is the only way to get a hospital or trust to see how badly they screwed up is critical to improving care to ensure it doesn't happen again. There are far too many occasions when people don't complain as health care professionals are put on pedestals when in reality they are human and screw up because of their own or system failings.

Yeah... just do nothing so it can happen again, and again, and again. Bound to be best in the long run.

OP. Good luck. Fingers crossed. Consequential losses are taken into account. Don't feel bad about legal action. You have every right to do this and ignore what NHS religious believers saY.

@AtSea1979 and if you are left disabled and unable to work?
If your child is left disabled for life and they will still beed care after you die?
If you have to pay yourself to put things right? Lose your job?

Who is supposed to pay for all that? An apology is nice,more training and updated procedures are also nice,but in some cases they won’t pay the mortgage or put food on the table.

I lost my job and my business has suffered. I don't care where the money has come from I am owed it.

@WiseDad thank you for your support. It helps a lot to hear word like these when other people are trashing me.

I have suffered and I am suing and I don't want to hear what some people think of suing the NHS I have asked about time frames and money awarded.

How much has anyone been awarded if they sued?

We all pay into the pot to protect each other. This money is not money being used to make people redundant etc this money is there to pay people like me who have lost their livlihood etc.

Thankfully for us we have dividends and our mortgage is paid and my parents paid for my medical care but I shouldn't be in this place. It's not fair.

@RebelRogue I agree with your comments whole heartedly.
Unless you have been in this place you don't know how it feels.

@shhhfastasleep you poor thing. It is very hard to muster the energy. I'm so upset by the process

I haven't sued the NHS, but just wanted to show my support OP. The NHS isn't God, and severe medical negligence is obvious. Bloody well go for it OP, and best of luck.

Thank you , duck. Very impressed with your courage. Ignore the nonsense.
I was brought up Catholic. I spent some time living and working in the former Soviet Union. I know what organised/ state religion looks like and feels like when you don’t agree with it. This is what we’ve turned the NHS into. You are some kind of heretic if you criticise the care you received.
We are all better than that, surely.

My mum did and they settled out of court. She slipped on ice and dislocated her shoulder and they left it out of the socket for 8 hours. They also missed a fracture on an X-ray.

All the nerves died and her arm now hangs like it’s disconnected and she can’t use it.

She was already disabled and this has severely affected her daily life. It took four years from beginning to end and the money didn’t change anything really.

She’s been told there is nothing to be done with her arm so no amount of money can help. She has a pretty miserable life as walking with a stick with one arm that doesn’t work is very difficult.

I have had terrible, amazing and everything in between experiences with the nhs. I still think its an amazing institution. I really don't think sueing is a helpful response. If you or child needs extra money due to disability your anger should go to the government. People make mistakes. What you are contributing to is a workforce who do not want to do difficult/ risky work because they fear if they risk it they will be blamed if it goes wrong. Yes there is negligence and you can complain. This service is being woefully attacked. Once gone we probably will not get it back and our most deprived, disabled, abused children will pay the price.

I was observing in a clinic recently where a patient was pursuing a case against the trust and the doctor they were seeing was very helpful. He agreed that they should do so and advised them on how to go about it. Another Dr screwed up And the patient suffered, of course the doctor was on the patient's side.
I do think they money wasted on these cases is insane though as they cost if lawyers etc massively adds to the settlement fee. Also the settlement should be sensible and proportionate, though that is obviously difficult to quantify.

if your quality of life is significantly impacted by medical negligence then of course you are entitled to compensation.

The law states this.

People here saying it's immoral clearly haven't been harmed by such incompetence

It will likely take a long time and I’ve even heard their lawyers use the ‘you’re effectively taking public funds from the taxpayer’ argument and if that’s their best argument, you know you’ve got a good case (used to have colleagues who did medical negligence cases).

If the NHS is successfully sued, it’s usually on the grounds of negligence and things that could have been avoided - if there’s nothing they could have done about the loss someone suffered, the claim is unlikely to be successful.

So a successful claim means that mistakes were made and lessons should be learned, in addition to motivating the senior execs to manage patient risk better and being a huge deterrent against just planning for a certain level of negligence.

This, in turn, makes the NHS safer for the public and so is actually in the taxpayer’s interest. I, for one, don’t want my life in the hands of someone who thinks a certain level of negligence is inevitable.

You're the poster with the slogan jumper aren't you? I was pleased to see your recent update - that you have started reducing your medication as you're having Botox in the affected area and can now try for another DC. You seemed pretty confident that you'd be fine going through pregnancy and a CS and I wish you all the best.

Oh FGS. Why are so many people so thick they think supporting the NHS as a concept (which I do) means that there aren't certain individuals or even teams working in it who are shit and frankly nasty people. Institution. Individual people. Different things. Sick of people claiming all NHS staff are infallible angels.

Broken11Girl 100% agree! We should support people who've been F*cked by the NHS. And we need lawyers because the NHS will not just pay out what is needed. The NHS is not some free, saintly service, we pay for it! And i'm also happy to pay out for people who've been let down by the system. I'm sure those who think we should'nt sue the NHS would'nt sue themselves if they are horrificly injured due to NHS failings!

I agree you should sue op. The NHS is not infallible and there are shit people working there (as in all professions).

Agreeing with the NHS as an idea doesn't mean people should criticise it, and from what j have seen, the NHS often makes it more expensive for themselves by not admitting at an early stage that they have made a mistake.

Not a clinical negligence lawyer, so nothing useful to add in that department, but I've just finished a book by Adam Kay, who gave up being a doctor a few years ago after a clinical incident (he was found not to have been negligent). His book details the effect this had on him - don't forget doctors are often placed in an impossible situation, working 100 or more hours a week, and expected to perform brilliantly after no sleep in 24 hours. This is what he had to say about his situation.

Only people I know who have tried have been snookered at the first attempt.

Each one asked for their medical records and after 2-3 years of asking they got told they couldn't find them.

My own records have an xray of someone else's spine. Apparently I have arthritis. Went private and had an MRI, no arthritis just slipped discs. 5 f**king years I was left in agony walking with a zimmer frame.

I have some records and the solicitors have requested all of them again as they are being reviewed by an independent urologist.

I don't care if I only am awarded £10.00 I want the trust to acknowledge that they have trashed my life and it could have been avoided and a sensible urologist would have avoided this!

@Collaborate

Thank you so much for sharing this. It has weight.
I feel the consultant could have avoided this though. I have gone years in pain, suffering, wondering if I could have avoided this myself, I have been addicted to all sorts of medication. My husband has been my cater, my son was premature. I too will be forever wondering, so I will seek justice, not just for me but for any other woman who encounters the same problems as me in the future at the trust.