Medical Negligence Claims | Thorntons Medical Negligence Solicitors

Thousands of medical appointments and procedures take place every day and generally patients receive a high standard of care by our well-trained and caring medical professionals. Unfortunately, on occasion, mistakes happen. This is known as medical or clinical negligence. Our medical negligence solicitors provide specialised legal assistance and guidance for medical negligence compensation claims.

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Treatment options aren’t properly discussed with patients or the treatment received falls below an acceptable standard. The consequences of medical negligence can be serious and life changing to the patient, leading to emotional and physical distress and financial loss.

If you or a family member has suffered due to medical negligence either through the NHS or through private healthcare, you may be entitled to claim compensation for your injury and suffering and for rehabilitation and care costs, as well as to cover loss of earnings.

What is medical negligence?

Medical professionals, such as doctors, dentists, nurses, surgeons and physiotherapists, have a duty of care to you as their patient. This means they should make sure you receive the right treatment based on their medical judgement and it should be delivered correctly. Before undergoing any treatment, they should fully explain treatment options to you, setting out the potential benefits, risks and side effects of each option including the option to have no treatment. If they fail in this duty and you suffer avoidable harm as a result of their failures, you may have grounds for a compensation claim.

Types of medical negligence

The term medical negligence can cover many kinds of issues, including:

failing to obtain ‘consent to treatment’ by not explaining options.
surgical errors such as avoidable further injury, pain or scarring, or leaving medical equipment inside a patient.
pregnancy and birth injuries, misinterpretation of CTG traces, shoulder dystocia, vaginal tears, avoidable delivery delays.
misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose resulting in treatment delay.
mis-prescription of drugs or medicines resulting in illness or complications.

Health & medical product issues

When you attend your doctor, you may be prescribed drugs that you have not had before or you may require surgery for a transplant, medical implants such as breast enhancements or to undergo an operation to replace, for example, your hip or knee.

While such drugs or implant/transplant products undergo testing to attempt to avoid defects, there are occasions where such products can cause you harm. The companies that produce these products or drugs have an obligation to you, as a consumer, to design and manufacture safe products. If the company fails in this obligation, and you are hurt as a result, then you are entitled to make a claim for compensation, and should speak with one of our experienced personal injuries lawyers who could assist you with your claim.

You may also suffer an injury or have an allergic or skin reaction from other products, for example from faulty equipment or unsafe beauty products.. If the manufacturer has been negligent, you may have a valid personal injury claim. Find out more about product liability claims.

Making a complaint

If there is an issue with your treatment by a medical professional, either in hospital or by your GP, you may well want answers as to what when wrong. Each of the Scottish NHS Health Boards have a complaints procedure. Information on your rights to complain and who to contact are found at mygov. scot/nhs-complaints. This website will direct you to the correct complaints procedure for your health board.

If your complaint is against your GP practice, you should raise this with them directly in the first place but you are still entitled to use the NHS complaints procedure.

Complaints should be made in a timely manner which generally means within 6 months of the matter complained of or within 6 months from when the matter came to the notice of the complainer.

How can Thorntons help?

The legal test to show that a medical professional is negligent is complicated. At Thorntons, our team of Personal Injury Solicitors has significant expertise in dealing with medical negligence claims and will guide you through the process.

We work with a team of doctors, nurses and midwives with many years of experience in various fields of medicine from A&E and orthopaedics to cardiology, gynaecology and obstetrics which, combined with Thorntons’ legal expertise, means you are assured of getting the very best advice for your medical negligence claim.

We understand that dealing with claims can be a stressful experience and provide support and straightforward advice to our clients. We may be able to deal with your personal injury claim on a no win no fee basis depending on the circumstances of your case. You have three years from when the medical negligence occurred, or from when you realised it had occurred, to make your medical claim. If you were under the age of 16 when the medical negligence happened, you can claim up to three years from when you turn 16.

You can start your medical negligence claim today by calling us free on 0800 731 8434 or complete our enquiry form. We will talk through your situation, answer any questions you may have and advise you if you can make a personal injury compensation claim. Our discussion will be confidential and you are under no obligation to make a claim. You can also take a look at our Claims Calculator to find out how much compensation you may be entitled to.