Medical Negligence Litigation

Being the victim of medical negligence can be a very traumatic thing to go through.

After all, it is our instinct to automatically trust medical professionals such as doctors and dentists, and when they let us down - especially if this leads to some sort of harm - it can be very hard to deal with. If you are worried that a medical professional has been negligent in your treatment then you might be able to go through the process of negligence litigation, in order to bring a professional negligence claim against them. Read on to find out more.

Reasons for medical negligence claims

There are many reasons for considering medical negligence litigation that relate to many different areas of medicine. For instance, GP errors, birth injuries, surgical mistakes, problems with laser eye or other cosmetic surgery, and misdiagnosis or mistreatment could all be cases of negligence.

It is thought that roughly half of all UK medical accidents in hospitals could be avoided, so there is a good chance that if you have suffered a problem you will be able to make a professional negligence claim. You should talk to specialist medical negligence solicitors if you suspect this might be the case, as they will be able to advise you on the process of training compensation.

There are, however, a few other things you will need to think about before bringing a professional negligence claim against a medical professional. You can find out more about this below.

Time limits to consider

One issue you will need to consider is the time limits involved with negligence litigation. Most negligence cases need to be made within 6 years of the negligence occurring. However, with many medical cases the limit is 3 years. There are other exceptions made for people under the age of 18 or those who are mentally disabled, as well as if the instance of negligence is only uncovered years after it happened.

Issues to think about

There are also a few other issues you need to think about when bringing a professional negligence claim against a medical professional. For instance, you will need to think about how you are going to prove the loss or harm you have suffered as a result. This can be more complicated in some cases than in others so seeking specialist legal advice is a must. You might also need to consider using expert witnesses in order to back up your claim. This is important as it can sometimes be hard to distinguish between a case of negligence and a genuine accident, so independent expert advice will be useful.