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Whether you were treated by the NHS or a private hospital, you should never be left suffering as a result of substandard care. In this guide, we’ll explain everything that you need to know about claiming compensation for ovarian cancer misdiagnosis, and how our expert solicitors could help.
Our team of advisors are here to help. They can answer any questions you may have about the cancer misdiagnosis claims process, get in touch today by:
To be eligible to claim ovarian cancer misdiagnosis compensation, you need to be able to establish medical negligence. To explain what medical negligence is, we first need to talk about duty of care.
When you receive treatment from a medical professional, they immediately owe you a duty of care. This means that the care you receive must meet a minimum standard. This duty of care applies to all medical professionals, but different disciplines may need to follow different steps.
For example, the General Medical Council (GMC) sets out professional standards for registered doctors, and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) discusses professional standards for nurses and midwives. While these may include different steps, the duty of care remains the same, and they all must provide treatment that meets the minimum standard.
Medical negligence occurs when:
Harm can be unavoidable in some medical settings. For example, if you have cancer and need chemotherapy to recover, you wouldn’t be able to claim for the side effects of this treatment. This is because the harm is necessary to aid your recovery.
Our advisors can tell you whether or not you could have a valid ovarian cancer misdiagnosis claim when you get in touch.
Ovarian cancer happens when there are abnormal cells in the ovaries, and these grow uncontrollably into the surrounding tissue and organs. It can also spread throughout the body to other organs.
Ovarian cancer can affect anyone with ovaries, though the risk of developing it grows the older you get, with risk peaking between 75 and 79-year-olds. According to statistics published by Cancer Research UK, around 7,500 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer every year in the UK. This makes it the 6th most common cancer in women.
So, how could medical negligence result in an ovarian cancer misdiagnosis? Some examples of how this could occur can include:
If you can’t see what happened to you reflected in these examples, you may still be able to claim. Contact our team today to learn more.
Ovarian cancer can be misdiagnosed as a number of different illnesses and conditions, including:
If you were harmed because your ovarian cancer was misdiagnosed as something else, contact our team of advisors today.
If you make a successful cancer misdiagnosis claim, then you will receive general damages. This is one of two potential heads of claim that can make up your medical negligence compensation.
General damages provide compensation for the pain and suffering you’ve endured as a result of medical negligence. This includes both the physical and mental effects of the misdiagnosis, but it also includes loss of amenity, which essentially means the effect it has had on your quality of life.
When this head of claim is calculated, the Judicial College Guidelines can be used to help. This document lists common injuries and illnesses beside guideline compensation brackets.
The table below contains some examples of JCG brackets alongside the top figure, which isn’t from the JCG.
| Injury | Compensation Bracket |
|---|---|
| Severe harm and financial losses, like lost earnings or the cost of mobility aids | Up to £1,000,000+ |
| Severe Psychiatric Damage | £66,920 to £141,240 |
| Severe PTSD | £73,050 to £122,850 |
| Female Reproductive Injuries (a) | £140,210 to £207,260 |
| Female Reproductive Injuries (b) | £52,490 to £124,620 |
| Female Reproductive Injuries (c) | £68,440 to £87,070 |
| Female Reproductive Injuries (d) | £21,920 to £44,840 |
| Female Reproductive Injuries (e) | £8,060 to £22,800 |
| Mental Anguish | £5,700 |
Special damages cover the financial losses that the misdiagnosis has caused you. Some examples of financial losses caused by ovarian cancer misdiagnosis can include the cost of:
To prove these losses, you can keep records of what you spend and save any relevant receipts, bank statements, or invoices.
Contact our team today if you’d like to learn more about compensation in cancer misdiagnosis claims, or keep reading for more information.
To make a valid claim, you need to make sure that you start proceedings within the time limit. This is generally three years, starting on the date that you were misdiagnosed, as per the Limitation Act 1980.
Alternatively, this time limit could begin on the date you first became aware that the harm you suffered was caused by a medical professional breaching their duty of care. This is often referred to as the date of knowledge.
However, you may still be able to claim if you fall outside of this time limit. There are some exceptions to the rule, which apply to:
If you’d like to learn more about time limits in ovarian cancer misdiagnosis claims, contact our team today.
Many people think that making a claim with a legal expert is expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. Our expert medical negligence solicitors all work under the terms of a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which means that they can help you:
All without asking for upfront or ongoing payment for their services. Under this type of No Win No Fee arrangement, your solicitor will only take a success fee if you make a successful claim. This fee is a small percentage of your compensation, which is capped by law and taken directly from what you receive.
To find out if one of our expert No Win No Fee solicitors could help you make an ovarian cancer misdiagnosis claim, contact us today by:
To learn more about making a medical negligence claim:
Or, to find more resources:
Thank you for reading our guide on making ovarian cancer misdiagnosis compensation claims.
