Finding The Best Medical Negligence Solicitors Near Me
By Lewis Cobain. Last Updated 22nd February 2023. If you believe you have grounds to make a clinical negligence claim, you may wonder “should I use medical negligence solicitors near me?”. This guide will address this question and others.
There’s no requirement for you to use a local solicitor in this kind of claim. You aren’t obliged to use a solicitor at all, but it’s a good idea to do so because they have experience in this complex area of law.
Medical negligence solicitors near me guide
If you’ve been harmed by medical negligence, then you might be entitled to claim compensation. Medical negligence describes a situation in which a medical professional breaches the duty of care that they owe you, causing you harm.
We may not answer every one of the questions you have about your potential claim in this guide. Because of this, we have made our team of expert claim advisors available to answer your questions. You can contact them by:
- Calling 0800 073 8804
- Filling out our web contact form
- Using the live chat feature on this screen
Select a Section:
- Medical Negligence Solicitors Near Me – Do I Need To Stay Local?
- How Do I Prove A Medical Negligence Claim?
- What Is Clinical Negligence?
- What Could Lead To Medical Negligence?
- What Are Examples Of Medical Negligence?
- The Latest Medical Negligence Statistics
- What Level Of Compensation Could I Claim For?
- General Damages And Special Damages For Clinical Negligence Claims
- Can I Benefit From No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Claims?
- Could Legal Expert Provide The Best Medical Negligence Solicitors Near Me?
- Speak To Legal Expert About Your Claim
- More Resources On How To Find Medical Negligence Solicitors Near Me
Medical Negligence Solicitors Near Me – Do I Need To Stay Local?
You may be wondering, ‘do I need to use medical negligence solicitors near me?’ Firstly, you aren’t limited to only using local solicitors. Whilst in the past it may have been beneficial due to them being in close proximity to you, thanks to advances in technology, you can work with solicitors anywhere in the country. You can now speak to solicitors via online methods or by giving them a call.
Therefore, when looking for a solicitor to represent your claim, instead of considering , ‘are the best negligence solicitors near me?’solicitors who deal with medical negligence claims. Sometimes solicitors more suited to your case might be based elsewhere. As such, it may benefit you more picking your solicitor based on their experience rather than location.
Our solicitors, for example, can help you wherever you are based in the UK. They have experience in handling medical negligence claims. They’ll also be able to cover all bases of your claim.. You can check our reviews to see why clients choose to work with us.
Alternatively, for more information about the services our solicitors can offer, get in touch using the number above.
Is There A Deadline For Claiming?
In the UK, there is a general claims time limit of three years that applies to starting a claim. It can either run from the date of the accident or the date you became aware that you were harmed by negligence. This general deadline is laid out in the Limitation Act 1980.
However, there are exceptions that can apply to this deadline. For more information on the time limits that could apply to your circumstances, speak with an advisor from our team today.
How Do I Prove A Medical Negligence Claim?
In order to make a claim for compensation following a breach of duty of care, it’s important that you prove your claim.
There are various pieces of evidence that you can use in support of your claim. These include:
- Photographs of your injuries. If the medical negligence caused visible injuries, then you may want to take photographs of these
- A symptoms diary. You could take a record of how your symptoms progress and the way in which they affect you
- Witness details. In some cases, another person might have seen the negligence occur. If this is the case, they could provide you with their contact details so that someone can take a statement at a later date.
You might also need to attend a medical assessment as part of your claim. Even if you don’t look for a solicitor by searching “medical negligence solicitors near me”, this could still be arranged in your local area to reduce travel time.
The results of this medical examination, in the form of a report, can be submitted in support of your claim. For more information on the evidence you can collect in support of your claim, speak with an advisor today.
What Is Clinical Negligence?
When you seek medical attention, you are entitled to a minimum standard of care. This applies whether you’re seeking medical attention from the NHS, or from a private healthcare facility. It also applies no matter what area of medicine you’re seeking care from; you’re owed a duty of care when visiting the dentist as well as when going to A&E or a walk-in centre for immediate medical attention.
If this minimum standard of care is not met, then this is an example of negligence. If you’ve been harmed unnecessarily as a result of negligence, then you may be able to claim.
An important consideration to bear in mind is that not every instance of harm caused in the course of medical treatment will be grounds for a claim. This is because, sometimes, a doctor or other medical professional must cause you harm in order to treat your condition.
An example of this is a dentist extracting a tooth. This will be painful and cause you some suffering. However, as long as it’s necessary in the course of your treatment, you would not be able to claim because it fits within the minimum standard of care.
Furthermore, there may be instances in which a healthcare provider was negligent but this did not have an impact on your health. For example, you may have been prescribed the wrong medication because of a breach of duty of care, but this does not affect your wellbeing. If this is the case, you would not be able to claim.
For more information on the duty of care that medical professionals owe their patients, speak with an advisor today. They could help you avoid searching “medical negligence solicitors near me” in order to secure legal representation for your claim.
What Could Lead To Medical Negligence?
Any solicitor, regardless of location, should be able to help you to claim for harm caused by clinical negligence. Below, we have given some examples of scenarios that could be construed as negligence and might result in you suffering harm.
- GP negligence – You may visit your GP with symptoms of an illness, but they fail to listen to your concerns and misdiagnose you as a result. If this causes your condition to worsen more than it would have if the care had been appropriate, you may be able to claim.
- Pharmacy negligence – If you are prescribed or handed the wrong medication by a doctor or pharmacist as the result of negligence, then you could claim provided this has a negative impact on your health.
- Dental negligence – For example, you might not be given enough anaesthetic for a procedure because of a breach of duty of care. You could claim for the unnecessary suffering you endured as a result.
- Hospital negligence – When you’re in a hospital, there could be a range of different medical professionals who have a hand in treating you. This could include nurses, surgeons and anaesthetists. If negligence on the part of any of them led to you experiencing unnecessary harm, then you could claim.
These are just a handful of examples of where medical negligence can happen. If you want to find out if your claim is valid based on your own circumstances, please call and talk to an expert claim advisor today. You may find this more useful than simply searching “medical negligence solicitors near me” to find legal representation for your claim.
What Are Examples Of Medical Negligence?
As we addressed in the previous section, medical negligence can happen in all areas of medicine. However, there are also many different forms that medical negligence can take.
How Can I Be Harmed By Medical Negligence?
Below, we’ve included some examples of circumstances that could be caused by a breach of duty of care:
- Allergic reactions – You might sustain an allergic reaction if you’re given a drug that you’re allergic to, or a dressing is applied to you that causes you to have a reaction. If your allergy was known but this happened despite this, then you could be entitled to claim.
- Surgeon negligence – You may be harmed if, for example, a foreign object was left in the body after surgery and you needed to undergo another operation in order to have it removed. You could also claim if negligence relating to diagnosis led to you undergoing unnecessary surgery.
- Misdiagnosis – Not all cases of misdiagnosis are caused by medical negligence. For example, in some cases, you might have symptoms that are not typical for the condition you have, meaning that even when the right level of care is administered, your doctor cannot come to a correct diagnosis. However, a misdiagnosis of cancer could lead to a more intense course of treatment or even death; if it was caused by negligence, you could claim.
- Hospital infections – These can happen even when all healthcare providers are adhering to the duty of care, and exposure to bacteria that causes infections cannot always be reasonably avoided. However, if a surgeon failed to clean their tools in between operations, and an infection was passed between patients this way, then you could potentially claim.
Our team of lawyers can potentially help you to claim for any harm you suffered due to clinical negligence, provided it is based on a provable incident that is deemed as negligence. Instead of looking for “medical negligence solicitors near me” online, why not get in touch with our team of advisors today?
The Latest Medical Negligence Statistics
NHS Resolution is a part of the Department of Health and Social Care. They are responsible for resolving disputes and concerns, amongst other things.
If someone makes a claim against the NHS for medical negligence, then this will be handled by NHS Resolution.
They release an annual report that shows, amongst other information, the amount of money the NHS has spent in the past year settling claims for harm caused by medical negligence from different indemnity schemes. We have illustrated these in the graph below:
What Level Of Compensation Could I Claim For?
It’s difficult to give an average settlement for medical negligence. This is because compensation is valued based on your individual circumstances.
The Judicial College produces guideline compensation brackets that legal professionals use to value claims. We based this table on these guidelines. You may also be able to use our compensation calculator to roughly estimate your claim.
| Health Problem | More Info | Guideline Bracket |
|---|---|---|
| Reproductive system (female) | Infertility through injury or disease that causes depression, anxiety, pain and scarring. | £107,810 to £158,970 |
| Bowels | Total natural loss of function and dependence on colostomy. | Up to £150,110
|
| Lung disease (a) | In a young person where the illness will probably worsen progressively and lead to premature death. | £100,670 to £135,920 |
| Lung disease (b) | In an older person, causing severe pain and impaired function/quality of life. | £70,030 to £97,330 |
| Digestive system – non-traumatic illness (i) | Severe toxicosis resulting in symptoms such as acute pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and fever. | £38,430 to £52,500
|
| Spleen (a) | Loss of spleen causing ongoing risk of internal infection. | £20,800 to £26,290 |
| Digestive system- non-traumatic illness (ii) | Vomiting diminishes over a period of two to four weeks with some discomfort remaining. | £9,540 to £19,200 |
| Spleen (b) | Loss of spleen with minimal or no risk of internal infection. | £4,350 to £8,640
|
| Mental anguish | Life expectancy is reduced. | £4,670 |
| Digestive system- non-traumatic illness (iv) | There is disabling pain and cramps to some extent. | £910 to £3,950 |
This table relates to the compensation that you could receive for the pain and suffering that your injuries have caused you. Read on for more information on what kinds of damages compensation consists of.
General Damages And Special Damages For Clinical Negligence Claims
When you claim compensation for harm caused by medical negligence, you may be entitled to two different heads of claim. These are general and special damages.
General damages are paid to you to compensate you for the pain and suffering that your injuries have caused you. This is the part of your claim that is set out in the table in the previous section.
In order to value this head of your claim, you might be invited to attend an independent medical assessment. Here, your injuries will be assessed and a report will be produced. This report can be referred to when your claim is valued.
Special damages cover any financial losses you have incurred. You’ll need to provide evidence to support your claim for special damages. Some examples of reasons why you may pursue special damages are given below.
- Lost salary or wages. If you had to be away from your job while you recovered, and you did not get paid in full for this time, then the loss of earnings could be included in your claim.
- Private medical charges. You may have had to pay for private medical care yourself because the treatment you needed was not available on the NHS.
- Lowered income in the future if your medical condition will reduce your ability to work or means you cannot return to work at all.
- The cost of care if you had to hire a care professional or nurse to help you at home.
You can find out what types of damages you may be able to claim if you call and speak to a claims advisor. Once you have explained your circumstances they can help you further without you needing to search “medical negligence solicitors near me”.
Can I Benefit From No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Claims?
If you decide to seek legal representation by searching “medical negligence solicitors near me”, then you might come across lawyers who expect you to pay for their services in the traditional way. This means that you could be expected to pay large upfront fees to secure their services, or to pay them their hourly rate as they work on your claim.
If you work with one of our solicitors, they could offer you a No Win No Fee agreement. This kind of agreement means that you won’t be expected to pay anything upfront or as the claim progresses. Furthermore, there is nothing to pay your lawyer at all in the event that your claim fails.
In fact, with a No Win No Fee agreement in place, the only time your lawyer will expect to be paid is if they secure your compensation. In this event, they will deduct a “success fee” from your compensation. This is legally capped to ensure that you always get the majority of the compensation awarded to you.
Call our advisors for more information about making a claim.
Could Legal Expert Provide The Best Medical Negligence Solicitors Near Me?
As we have already covered, the location of your solicitor doesn’t matter. However, we do operate solicitors all over the country. As long as your solicitor has experience in these kinds of claims, and is willing to work with you remotely, you can go through the whole claims process without the need to meet them in person.
Our expert lawyers have over three decades of experience in helping those who have been harmed as a result of negligence to get the compensation they are eligible for. They can handle your case with sensitivity and will work hard to get you the compensation you deserve.
Call our advisors for more information on how to claim. If you have a valid claim, they could put you in touch with one of our medical negligence lawyers.
Speak To Legal Expert About Your Claim
Our team of advisors can arrange for an expert clinical negligence lawyer to start working on your claim right away. To get the process started, use the contact details below to get in touch with our team:
- Calll 0800 073 8804
- Fill out our web contact form
- Use the live chat feature on this screen
More Resources On How To Find Medical Negligence Solicitors Near Me
Here are some reference links to useful websites.
Clinical Negligence In Mental Health
Taking Legal Action For Clinical Negligence
NHS Resolution Annual Statistics
And here are a few links to other claims guides that might be of use.
How To Make A Misdiagnosis Claim
A General Guide To Medical Negligence Claims
We hope that this guide has helped to answer the question, “do I need to use medical negligence solicitors near me?”. However, if you’d like more information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Written by Wheeler
Edited by Stocks
