Medical Negligence

Medical negligence – what is it?

Medical, or clinical negligence, is exactly as it sounds. It is a highly specialised type of personal injury claim, and focuses on the damage caused by a failure on the part of a medical practitioner.

For the purposes of a medical negligence claim a “medical practitioner” can be almost anyone involved in providing health care. It includes hospitals, GPs, cosmetic surgeons, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, health authorities or trusts, dentists, basically anyone providing a form of professional health care service.

The consequences of even the most minor procedure or treatment can be devastating to the patient and their family, but not every complication from medical treatment is necessarily negligent.

Problems can occur even when the very best doctors do their job to perfection. Distinguishing between unavoidable complications and actual negligence takes time, and specialist investigation.

Negligence is the failure to meet accepted standards of medical practice. Raleys can help you establish what that standard should be, and, if you did not receive it, why not.

Negligence comes in many forms, and stories of missed diagnoses, botched surgery, and the horrendous consequences are all too familiar to too many people.

Examples of potentially negligent treatment include, but are not limited to

• Careless surgical procedures
• Missed, delayed or wrongful diagnosis
• Mis-prescribed, supplied or overdoses of medication
• Poorly-performed cosmetic procedures
• Treatment without consent

The list is by no means exhaustive, medicine is an ever-changing field, constantly striving to improve standards and treatments.

Many people fear that bringing a medical negligence claim is an attack on the health care system, which it is not. Our role is to locate the mistakes and errors which cost people their health and sometimes even lives, and to ensure that something is done not only to help the victims of such errors, but to help make certain that those errors do not repeat themselves.