how to find a good solicitor

[griffintribe]

My dd was delivered by forcepts 21 months ago and the Doctor messed the delivery up. My dd was left with a scar covering half her right cheek. 21 months later the scar has healed quite well but can still be seen if you know what you are looking for.

The hospital at the time investigated the accident and found that they were at fault and we have a letter backing that up.

If feel that since a slight scar is still there that i would like to take legal advice on sueing the hospital.

Does any one know how to find a good solicitor for this type of thing, we are based in nottingham

Google 'medical negligence solicitors nottingham'

Look at Law Society site.

You need to think about what you want to get out of suing the hospital - retraining for staff involved, full written apology, money?

I dont know what i really want or expect i just feel that someone should be held accountable for the fact that my baby is scarred for life.

But is she really scarred for life if you have to look for it?

I'm not unsympathetic, obviously it's worrying you, but my first son's delivery was messed up to the extent that he was severely brain damaged for life and I decided not to sue even though he got legal aid initially, as frankly, it just takes yet more money out of the NHS pot and we didn't need money, just wanted an investigation into what went wrong so they didn't ruin anyone else's baby's life.

Perhaps you should get in touch with the hospital again and ask to speak to someone in more detail with a view to their reviewing procedures on forceps deliveries.

It sounds like you may also need some reassurance about further healing of your daughter's scar, and how long it will take to disappear completely.

As I say, I'm not sympathetic, and it must have been awful for you to go through this.

shit meant to say not UNsympathetic...

Law Society website might be a good start.

BTW you don't need one in Notiingham. Find ANY good one. They can then do it by phone and if necessary will visit you in home town.

I do know of a good one but as it is at DH's firm I can't post for fear of pushing that aspect.

You do need to know what you are suing for and what you hope to gainf rom suing.

Hi griffintribe

I passed the deatils on ths post on to DH (solicitor), who e-mailed the partner in charge of this stuff at his firm.

This was her thoughts based on the stuff posted here as to whether it is worth a case:

"It depends on value whether it is worth taking forward and what exactly the letter from the hospital says. I would need to see the letter to assess whether it is worth the parents asking the hospital to make a small ex gratia offer of compensation on a parental indemnity basis. For a small claim it will not worth getting into a formal court approval situation."

So, there maybe a case, but more information would be needed. Your solicitor would need to know more about what happened and what the letter actually states.

Hope that helps a bit.

Hi

Not sure if you came back to this thread. But have had a further update to the information I gave you earlier:

"JSB guidelines suggest trivial facial scarring in a female is worth £1000 to £1900. If she has any particular embarrassment above the norm this would increase the award.

So it would certainly be wortwhile taking this forward as, for that level of compensation, it may be worth asking the court to formally approve an award (if we can get the Hospital to agree) and the money would be invested in court to make a nice nest-egg for this very young girl."