Hospital Negligence Claims: What You Need to Know

If a patient suffers an injury because of the negligence of the doctor, nurse or person treating them then they might well be entitled to make hospital negligence claims to win financial compensation. The compensation can be a crucial lifeline to patients who are injured and therefore unable to work, or who are stung with fees for their ongoing care. However, hospital negligence claims represent an incredibly complex area of the law and not all patients are entitled to claim.

Hospital negligence claims may be made following negligence which takes many forms. Negligence does not only occur in hospitals but also in doctors’ surgeries, outpatient clinics and others. Negligence may arise as a result of poor training or lack of regular training keeping professionals updated with latest techniques. Sometimes, basic human error is to blame, with misreading of charts or illegible handwriting leading to sometimes fatal mistakes. Indeed some estimates state that thousands of patients die every year as a result of such negligence and errors.

Negligence occurs when a medical professional’s conduct falls below the standard expected of a reasonably competent practitioner. That said, the fact that negligence has happened does not automatically entitle a patient to make hospital negligence claims.
Proving that negligence took place is in itself a complex task. In the medical profession there are usually several accepted ways of doing things, so a practitioner complying with any one of these techniques is not acting negligently. Simply put, the rule is that simply because one doctor might have done things differently, negligence has not necessarily occurred.

Even after negligence has been proven, hospital negligence claims will not always be guaranteed to be successful. The responsibility lies with the claimant and their solicitor to demonstrate that the injury was directly caused by the negligence and that it wouldn’t have otherwise happened. This may sound simple but it is not always easy to show that injury was not caused by the original condition for which the patient was seeking treatment.

Speaking to an experienced solicitor is very important if you think you may have grounds for hospital negligence claims. Take care when selecting a solicitor because this area of the law is very important. Check your law firm’s history of handling hospital negligence claims, if they have a lot of experience they will be better placed to advise you.