Advice On Making A Misdiagnosis Claim

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How Much Compensation Could I Get For A Medical Misdiagnosis Claim?

By Cat Way. Last Updated 6th March 2024. This guide looks at claims for misdiagnosis. If you come to avoidable harm due to a medical professional’s breach of duty of care, you could be able to make a medical negligence claim.

We explain when you might have valid grounds to claim for a doctor misdiagnosis and look at a few examples of the evidence you could use to support your case. Additionally, we also provide a few examples of when a doctor may have been negligent.

You may wonder how much compensation for a misdiagnosis could be awarded in a successful claim for medical negligence. If so, this guide could help as it will discuss how misdiagnosis compensation claim settlements are calculated and what they could include.

If you are eligible for compensation, you may like to have legal representation during the claiming process. This guide concludes with a look at the benefits of having the support of a No Win No Fee medical negligence solicitor specialising in medical negligence.

You can also watch our video below which explains the key takeaways from our guide:

Our advisors can answer any questions you have about claiming. They can also assess whether you have an eligible case and provide a free claim valuation. To get in touch:

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Select a Section

  1. Suing For Misdiagnosis – Potential Compensation Payouts
  2. Eligibility Criteria For Misdiagnosis Claims
  3. What Evidence Do You Need To Make A Misdiagnosis Claim?
  4. Types of Clinical Negligence Misdiagnosis Claims
  5. My Doctor Misdiagnosed Me, Can I Work With A No Win No Fee Solicitor?
  6. Useful Links on Making A Misdiagnosis Claim

Suing For Misdiagnosis – Potential Compensation Payouts

When suing for a misdiagnosis, your compensation settlement could consist of general and special damages.

For successful medical negligence claims, general damages compensate you for the harm you have suffered due to a medical professional breaching their duty of care. Every successful medical misdiagnosis claim will result in general damages. This is because this head of claim covers the harm you suffer as a result of the treatment you received.

Many legal professionals will refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help them value claims. This document lists compensation guidelines for various types of injuries. In the table below, we have provided some of the amounts stated in the 16th edition of the JCG.

Please only use this table as a guide. The first entry in this table has not been taken from the JCG.

Edit
Injury Type Notes Compensation Bracket
Multiple Severe Illnesses & Special Damages Severe harm caused by multiple severe illnesses and special damages, such as lost earnings and pension contributions. Up to £1,000,000+
Total Blindness Total blindness in both eyes. In the region of £268,720
Kidney Injuries (a) Total loss or severe damage to both kidneys. £169,400 to £210,400
Reproductive System: Female (a) Infertility by cause of disease or injury. The upper end of this bracket is applicable to cases with serious medical complications, such as the failure to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy. £114,900 to £170,280
Reproductive System: Male (a) The male reproductive organs are completely lost. In excess of £153,870
Bowel Injuries (b) Complete loss of natural function, with dependence on colostomy and consideration given to age. Up to £150,110
Total Deafness and Loss of Speech Applicable to cases where deafness happened at an early age, potentially due to a rubella infection, which has affected speech development. £109,650 to £140,660
Bladder Injuries (b) Complete loss of the bladders control and function. Up to £140,660
Lung Disease (b) Lung cancer causing severe pain, impairing both function and quality of life, generally in an older person. £70,030 to £97,330
Lung Disease (c) A disease such as emphysema that worsens the lungs function and impairs the breathing. £54,830 to £70,030
Digestive System (b)(i) Severe toxicosis requiring hospital admission for a few weeks. The person will also suffer with vomiting, acute pain and a fever. £38,430 to £52,500

How Much Compensation For A Misdiagnosis Can Be Awarded In The Form Of Special Damages?

If you make a successful cancer misdiagnosis claim, then you may also be awarded special damages. This head of claim compensates you for the financial losses you experienced due to the medical negligence.

Some examples of the expenses you could be compensated for include:

  • A loss of earnings if you required time off work to recover from the harm you suffered
  • Travel expenses, such as taxi or bus fares to medical appointments
  • Medical costs, such as paying for prescriptions
  • The cost of childcare and help with housekeeping

You will need to provide evidence of these losses in order to claim for them under special damages. A copy of your bank statements, invoices and payslips are examples of evidence you could use.

If you would like to learn more about special damages in medical misdiagnosis claims, please contact our advisors for free online or by calling us.

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Eligibility Criteria For Misdiagnosis Claims

To be eligible to claim compensation for a misdiagnosis, your case would have to meet the criteria below.

  1. A medical professional must have owed you a duty of care.
  2. The duty of care must have been breached.
  3. You must have suffered avoidable harm due to the breach.

Each and every medical professional has a duty of care to their patients. They must ensure that their care does not fall below a minimum standard.

If this duty of care is breached, you could be harmed unnecessarily. In such cases, you may be eligible to claim compensation.

Not all incidents where someone gets the wrong diagnosis would automatically lead to misdiagnosis claims.

In some cases, the minimum standard of care might have been met, but there may be other factors that impacted the ability to get the right diagnosis. In such cases, you might not be eligible to claim.

To find out whether you would be eligible to make a medical negligence misdiagnosis claim, you can contact our advisors. They would be able to check your case free of charge.

How Long Do I Have To Make A Misdiagnosis Claim?

Generally, you have three years to start a medical misdiagnosis claim. This time limit applies to all medical negligence claims and is outlined by the Limitation Act 1980. You can start a claim within three years of suffering the harm or within three years of connecting the harm you suffered with negligence; this is called the date of knowledge.

However, there are some exceptions to this rule. You may be able to claim medical misdiagnosis compensation outside the time limit if you:

  • Were under the age of eighteen: If you were harmed while under the age of eighteen, the time limit doesn’t start until your eighteenth birthday. Otherwise, a litigation friend can claim on your behalf before you turn eighteen.
  • Lack the mental capacity to claim for yourself: If you lack the mental capacity to make a claim for yourself, a litigation friend can claim on your behalf at any time. Otherwise, the time limit will only begin if you recover the needed capacity and will run from this date of recovery.

To find out if you are within the correct time limit to make a medical misdiagnosis compensation claim, contact our team today.

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What Evidence Do You Need To Make A Misdiagnosis Claim?

One of the most important steps in the medical misdiagnosis claims process is collecting evidence to support and strengthen your case. Evidence can help illustrate the extent of the harm you suffered and can also demonstrate who is responsible.

Some examples of evidence that you could use to support your misdiagnosis claim include:

  •   A symptoms diary: Keeping a diary to track how your symptoms change or worsen as a result of the misdiagnosis can be helpful, as this can then be used as evidence.
  •   Medical records: Your records can detail the treatment you received, as well as notes from doctors, medications, and dosages. This can then be used as evidence.
  •   Witness statements: Taking the contact details of witnesses, such as a chaperone to a doctor’s appointment, means that a professional can take their statements at a later date.

Your case may also be put to the Bolam test. In this case, a panel of relevantly trained medical experts will assess whether the standard of care you received was of an appropriate standard or not.

One of the benefits of working with a solicitor on your case is that they can help you collect evidence for your claim.

Contact our team of advisors to find out how one of our solicitors could help you or to learn more about how much compensation for misdiagnosis in the UK you could receive if your claim succeeds.

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Types Of Clinical Negligence Misdiagnosis Claims

If you want to sue a hospital, or other medical institute, for a misdiagnosis, you first may be wondering, ‘what is a misdiagnosis?’.

A misdiagnosis is when someone may be diagnosed with a medical condition they do not suffer from. This could be due to a variety of reasons, such as failure to recognise symptoms.

There are various different types of misdiagnosis claims, such as:

  • Total misdiagnosis – This is when a doctor fails to diagnose the symptoms of an existing illness or condition. This could lead to the patient receiving incorrect or delayed treatment, which could make their condition worse.
  • Cancer misdiagnosis – This is when a medical practitioner misdiagnoses your cancer as a different condition. For example, you see your doctor about lumps in your breast. They only perform a physical inspection, and do not order any further tests. They then misdiagnose your breast cancer as inflamed lymph nodes.
  • Fracture misdiagnosis – This is when your fracture is misdiagnosed as something else, such as a sprain or strain. For example, you got to the hospital with clear symptoms of a broken wrist. The doctor on hand does not order an x-ray scan and diagnoses you with a sprained wrist.

However, when suing for a misdiagnosis, you must prove that you suffered unnecessary harm due to a medical professional breaching their duty of care to you.

If they took all the necessary steps, and you were still misdiagnosed, you might not be able to make a claim.

Contact our advisors today if you are wondering, ‘can I sue a doctor for a misdiagnosis?”.

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My Doctor Misdiagnosed Me, Can I Work With A No Win No Fee Solicitor?

Now that you’ve learned more about how to make a medical misdiagnosis claim, you might be wondering how a medical negligence solicitor could help you.

Our expert medical negligence solicitors work on a No Win No Fee basis, which means you can access their services without paying any upfront or ongoing fees. Similarly, if your medical misdiagnosis claim doesn’t succeed, then you won’t be charged a fee for your solicitor’s work. This is possible with the help of a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA.)

Successful claimants only need to pay a success fee for their solicitor’s work. This fee is taken as a small percentage of your compensation, and your solicitor takes it directly. However, the percentage that they can take is limited by a legal cap, which helps to make sure that you take home the majority of what you receive.

Our expert misdiagnosis solicitors are here to help if you have suffered unnecessary harm as a result of medical negligence.

When you contact our team of advisors, they can evaluate your claim for misdiagnosis compensation, and can connect you with one of our solicitors if it is valid. To get started:

    • Start your claim online
    • Call 0800 073 8804
    • Use our live webchat

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Useful Links On Medical Misdiagnosis Claims

We hope this guide on how to make misdiagnosis claims has been helpful for you.

If you would like to speak to an advisor about seeking delayed treatment compensation or making medical misdiagnosis claims, then you are welcome to contact Legal Expert today.

You can speak to our team by using the contact details included in this guide.

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