Negligence Claim

[Bellyboy90]

The hospital the claim is against has admitted a break down in communication left my dad to die, if my mum takes them on and puts a claim in and wins any money from them, would that money be considered part of my Dads estate. There was no will, and he died in debt, if my mum were to take them on legally and win would that money be hers, or part of my dads estate? I've been told its part of his estate but I'm confused, if she wins its his estate, but if she looses then dad doesn't pay any legal expense's that follow so I'm confused

I guess it could be either or both.

I'm sure the no win no fee lawyers will have handle on it.

…if she wins its his estate, but if she looses then dad doesn't pay any legal expense's that follow so I'm confused.

which part are you confused about? Your own post sums it up nicely.

Win= estate gets the money
Lose= estate does not pay anything.

This is the normal basis of a no win, no fee action.

But I would add, courts take many factors into consider when deciding on financial compensation (fyi I’m not a lawyer) including the age, loss of earnings and future earnings of the deceased (as in your dad). That’s assuming the court decides the hospital was negligent in the first place.

Court cases can be very stressful, especially when the family are still grieving. And they can drag on for years. I know of an elderly lady who made a claim like this, but it went on so long she was exhausted and pulled out of the claim. Unfortunately she had signed a contract with a no win no fee lawyer, who had a clause in the contract that they could pursue her for their costs if she did not see the court action through to conclusion. She owed them thousands of pounds.

If your dad was retired, and had no significant earning potential, that would reduce the amount of any potential compensations awarded. You need to think about all of this before going ahead with a no win no fee lawyer. You could get free advice from your local citizens advice branch.

Also, you said that your dad had debts. These will be paid from the estate. So if his estate has no money, unless they were joint debts, your mum will not be liable for them. Have you taken advice on this part because your post sounds as if you’re thinking you need to make the negligence claim to pay the debts (but I might be reading that wrong).

Hi thanks for the info, the hospital and the ambulance service in both reports admit to not talking to each other for several hours whilst my dad lay dying in bed, and because of those wasted hours it resulted in the hospital that had accepted him for the procedure to save him saying he had now basically become brain dead, they both admit it so theres a strong claim and the inquest into it is waiting to start. I know we dont have to pay the £13k and unfortunately we have no money to pursue it other other than the no win route. Obviously if she won then that firm would take their share and if enough was left to pay the £13 k debt also we would have to consider exactly what you said, if at the end of it that would be the only outcome then with the stress of it all it would hardly be worth doing it. Again thank you for your advice iys something we have to think about.

Was your Dad working and did your mum rely on him financially? This can add to the value of any claim without wanting to sound crass

Was he already poorly for example terminal and the negligence accelerated death ?

These are things that will impact the value of any claim as harsh as that sounds.

Very sorry for your loss in such awful circumstances

My understanding (purely from googling) is that there are two sorts of claim

First is a claim for any pain and suffering caused prior to death - any money paid for this would go to his estate / debts as it is a claim on his behalf

Second is a claim by his dependents for loss of financial support from him (only possible if he was earning and your mum/other family were relying on those earnings). Money paid for this does not go to his estate/debts as it is not his claim, it is the dependent claiming on their own behalf.

As I say this is just from reading various lawyers’ websites so I may be wrong but it does make sense

And of course, I am very sorry to hear of your loss and particularly that it could perhaps have been prevented, how awful.

Thank you so much, my dad was 80yrs old, but a very good 80, he was fully dependant and to look at him you would say he was 65 tops, the stroke came out of the blue he got up, went for a wash after saying good morning to me, then i heard a crash and i knew he had collapsed, the ambulance arrived in 60 seconds they were passing my house, the hospital i can see from my bedroom window so that part was very fast, but the 4hr window had started this was 8am. The plan was to take him from llanelli to the only hospital that could do the procedure to save him in Bristol, 86 miles away either blue lights ambulance or Air ambulance, which ever arrives first.

My dad as trying to help get off the floor his right side was active, paramedics had to tell him they would get him up dont worry, he understood, i was asking him to raise his thumb if he heard me..he raised his thumb, then the breakdown happened, air ambulance arrived, and 5hrs later he still hadn't been taken 1 mile to the ambulance. the ambulance said we were told the trip was 86 mile, not 1 mile so they never sent one. both parties admit the break down in communication and they also changed their procedure for bumping someone actually dying down the priority list in place of someone calling 999 for a heart attack when in reality 9/10 that person is not having a heart attack.

My mum was financially dependant on him as a family we have lost about £2000 p/m income from his passing. My brother is disabled and my dad did everything for him, since he died in 2022 dec 7th, my brother wakes up screaming having nightmares of my dad asking why didnt we do more, my mum is his career both of them are mentally destroyed, the inquest has dragged on since jan 2023 a 2 day date yet to be set, this is why im reluctant ive been holding everything together since 2022, i watch my dad die the most horrible death as he was convulsing for hours before he passed, i don't think mentally they can take a drawn out process if the end result is a bank getting their cash that we don't have to pay, i hate talking about money like this my dad meant the world to all of us but had no insurance policies as most expired upon hitting 80yrs old in the small print.

Thank you again very much for the advice and the kind words.

Honestly I'd be careful here. The fact that your dad was 80 years old and suffered a stroke may make your claim difficult to win.
Definitely get trustworthy advice and don't incur large legal fees pursuing this.

I note that your dad died on the 7/12/2022. You only have 3 years from the date of death to bring a claim. You may already be timed barred from making a claim.