Last updated 3rd December 2024. This guide explores how to sue a hospital for negligence by discussing the eligibility criteria for and process of medical negligence claims. Furthermore, we look at how an expert solicitor could assist you with seeking compensation for hospital negligence and the benefits of them doing so under No Win No Fee terms.
Medical professionals owe a duty of care to all the patients they treat. Therefore, they need to provide the minimum standard of care. If there is a failure to meet this, leading to a patient suffering avoidable harm, this may fall under medical negligence.
If you’re eligible, you could seek compensation to address the physical and psychological impacts of medical negligence. We explore how settlements awarded in successful hospital negligence claims are valued and the factors they could cover later in our guide.
Keep reading for more information about how to sue compensation for hospital negligence. Alternatively, you can get in touch with our team if you have any questions about making a medical negligence claim. An advisor can provide information for free 24/7. To get in touch, you can:
- Call on 0800 073 8804
- Talk to us about your claim online
- Use the pop-up live chat window
Select A Section
- How To Sue A Hospital For Negligence
- Examples Of Hospital Negligence
- What Evidence Can Support Medical Negligence Claims?
- Calculating Settlements For Hospital Negligence
- How Long Does It Take To Sue A Hospital For Negligence?
- How To Sue A Hospital For Negligence On A No Win No Fee Basis
- Find Out More About Making A Medical Negligence Claim
How To Sue A Hospital For Negligence
As mentioned, medical professionals owe a duty of care to the patients they treat. This extends to those working in a hospital, such as surgeons, doctors, and nurses. The duty placed on them requires them to provide care that meets the correct standard.
In order to sue a hospital for negligence, you must be able to meet the eligibility criteria for medical negligence claims. These are:
- A medical professional owed you a duty of care.
- This duty of care was breached.
- You suffered avoidable harm as a consequence.
What Is The Time Limit To Sue A Hospital For Negligence?
When looking into how to sue a hospital for negligence, it’s important to be aware of how long you have to start legal proceedings. Generally, as stated by the Limitation Act 1980, you have three years to begin a medical or clinical negligence claim.
The time limit can run from the date the medical negligence occurred or the date you became aware that the avoidable harm you suffered resulted from a medical professional providing substandard care.
There are exceptional circumstances to this limitation period, such as if the party is beneath the age of 18 or they lack the mental capacity required to start their own claim.
For further guidance on the time limits and eligibility criteria for hospital negligence claims, please contact an advisor on the number above.
Examples Of Hospital Negligence
Medical or clinical negligence in a hospital can take many forms. Below, we have provided a few examples of how a negligent care in a hospital could be given.
Misdiagnosis, Missed Diagnosis And Delayed Diagnosis
For example, you may have attended the hospital with clear signs of a fractured ankle but, because the doctor treating you failed to listen to your symptoms or examine you correctly, your fracture was missed and you were sent home without any treatment.
Alternatively, you may have been given the wrong diagnosis of a sprained ankle. In both circumstances, there will have been a delay in you receiving the correct diagnosis and therefore a delay in treatment being given for the correct condition.
Birth Injuries
Both the mother and the child could suffer injuries at birth. One example could be if the baby’s oxygen levels are not being properly monitored and the baby is temporarily starved of oxygen. This could result in them developing cerebral palsy.
Alternatively, the midwife may have used forceps incorrectly causing the mother to sustain a pelvic fracture during labour.
Surgical Errors
An error in surgery could include never events, which are serious incidents that should never happen. For instance, you may be scheduled for an amputation on your left arm, only to have your right arm removed instead due to a mistake. This is known as wrong-site surgery.
Another surgical error could include where the surgical team, including the anesthetist failed to check your medical records before administering a certain pain killer. As a result, you had an allergic reaction and suffered harm that could have been avoided.
Medication Errors
For example, you may have been prescribed a medication by a doctor in hospital to which you had a known allergy. Another example could include a doctor prescribing the wrong dosage, leading you to experience symptoms of an overdose.
Please note the above medical error examples may not necessarily lead to a valid hospital negligence claim against a healthcare provider. You must prove that a medical practitioner breached their duty of care and this led to you suffering avoidable harm in order to be eligible to seek medical negligence compensation.
Call on the number above to speak about the details of your case and learn how to sue a hospital for negligence.
What Evidence Can Support Medical Negligence Claims?
In order to make a medical negligence claim, you must collect evidence to strengthen your case and prove that a healthcare professional provided substandard care and caused you to suffer avoidable harm as a result. Examples of the evidence you could gather include:
- Copies of your medical records, such as X-ray scans, blood test results, letters from your doctor or the hospital, and prescription slips.
- A personal diary containing details of your physical and psychological state.
- Witness contact details, such as those who attended appointments with you. Witness statements could be taken at a later date to substantiate your case.
- Pictures of any visible harm, such as surgical wounds from unnecessary surgery.
Additionally, hospital negligence claims may also be subject to the Bolam test. This involves a panel of medical professionals trained in a relevant field determining whether the proper care of the correct standard was given when you received medical treatment. You won’t need to arrange this yourself and whether it’s carried out will be dependent on your specific case.
Furthermore, you may be asked to attend an independent medical assessment as part of the medical negligence claims process. This will generate a report that contains details about the avoidable harm you have suffered and the extent to which it’s likely to impact you in the future. The report can be used to help when determining how much medical negligence compensation you’re owed.
To find out more about how you can support a hospital negligence claim against a healthcare provider, get in touch with our advisors today.
Calculating Settlements For Hospital Negligence
You could potentially receive a settlement between £344,150 and £493,000 for a very severe brain injury. While you might be wondering what the average payout is for a successful hospital negligence claim, each case is valued based on the independent circumstances of your case. As such, it would be difficult to provide an average.
Generally, medical negligence compensation payouts awarded following a successful claim can comprise up to two heads of loss. The first of these is called general damages which compensates for the physical and psychological impacts of the medical negligence.
Those responsible for valuing general damages can use your independent medical report alongside the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG).
The JCG comprises a list of compensation guideline figures. These are assessed based on the severity and type of illness. We have included figures from the JCG in the table below. Please view the figures as a guide only and keep in mind that the top figure is not from the JCG.
Compensation Table
| Harm Type | Severity | Compensation Bracket - Guidelines |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple serious injuries and illnesses with special damages | Serious | Up to £1,000,000+ |
| Brain Damage | Very Severe (a) | £344,150 to £493,000 |
| Moderate (c)(ii) | £110,720 to £183,190 | |
| Arm Amputation | Loss of both arms (a) | £293,850 to £366,100 |
| Loss of one arm (b)(i) | Not Less Than £167,380 | |
| Kidney | Permanent and serious damage or loss to both kidneys (a) | £206,730 to £256,780 |
| Loss of one kidney (c) | £37,550 to £54,760 | |
| Bladder | Double incontinence (a) | Up to £224,790 |
| Spleen | Loss of spleen (a) | £25,380 to £32,090 |
Special Damages
Special damages is the second head of loss which compensates for the financial losses of the medical negligence. Under this head, you could seek reimbursement of the following costs:
- Loss of earnings
- Medical expenses
- Travel costs
- Care at home
Keep hold of evidence, such as payslips and receipts, to prove these monetary losses.
For further guidance on how much compensation could be awarded in successful hospital negligence claims, please contact our team of helpful advisors.
How Long Does It Take To Sue A Hospital For Negligence?
How long it takes to sue a hospital for negligence depends on the specific circumstances of your claim. The impact of hospital negligence can vary from case to case. Two cases that may appear similar may have different factors that legal professionals must assess when valuing compensation.
Examples of factors that could impact the time frame of your claim include:
- Whether the defending party accepts liability
- Whether you can settle the claim outside of court
- The court schedule
- The type and severity of your injuries (it can be difficult to assess the future impact of negligence if you have not recovered fully)
- The evidence that you need to prove your case
Should you be eligible to work with one of our solicitors, they will use their experience to navigate the legal system efficiently. There may be circumstances outside of your control that impact your claim. However, they will support you throughout the claim and keep you informed of any updates.
You can contact our team of advisors at any time to enquire about starting a claim. They can explain how to sue a hospital for negligence and even perform a case assessment free of charge. This can give you an idea of what to expect from a claim before you decide whether or not to claim.
How To Sue A Hospital For Negligence On A No Win No Fee Basis
If you want to know how to sue a hospital for negligence on a No Win No Fee basis, you should contact us. If our advisors confirm that you have an eligible claim, they can connect you with one of our specialist No Win No Fee solicitors.
Here is what is included in our solicitors’ services:
- Collecting evidence.
- Corresponding with the defendant on your behalf.
- Explaining legal jargon.
- Ensuring compensation is accurately and fairly calculated.
- Ensuring the claim is filed within the time limit.
- Updating you throughout the whole claims process on any progress.
Furthermore, they can provide these services under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which means:
- You pay nothing for your solicitor’s services upfront.
- You pay nothing for your solicitor’s services throughout the whole claims process.
- You pay nothing for your solicitor’s services at all if the claim isn’t successful.
If the claim is successful, your solicitor can take a success fee from your compensation. The success fee referees to the percentage owed to your solicitor. It is capped by law to ensure that you receive most of the compensation.
So, please contact us today to learn more about how to sue a hospital on a No Win No Fee basis.
Contact Us
Contact our team if you have any questions about suing a hospital for negligence, including what eligibility criteria you need to meet, how compensation is calculated in successful claims, and whether one of our specialist medical negligence solicitors could represent you on a No Win No Fee basis.
They can provide free advice on claiming for hospital negligence 24/7 and answer any questions you have after reading our helpful guide.
You can reach out and seek advice via the details below:
- Call on 0800 073 8804
- Talk to us about your claim online
- Use the pop-up live chat window
Find Out More About Making A Medical Negligence Claim
For more of our helpful clinical negligence claims guides:
- Find out how to prove medical negligence with our helpful guide.
- Discover whether you could make a clinical negligence claim for paralysis after surgery due to a surgical error.
- A helpful guide on stillbirth negligence claims including when you could seek compensation.
For more helpful external resources:
- Information on how to raise a concern about your doctor from the General Medical Council.
- Guidance on the principles and values of NHS England from GOV.UK.
- Information on good surgical practice from the Royal College of Surgeons in England.
Thank you for reading our guide on how to sue a hospital for negligence following medical errors that caused you to suffer avoidable harm. You could be connected with one our hospital negligence solicitors if you contact an advisor today.
