The term ‘medical negligence’ (or often referred to as clinical negligence) refers to circumstances where a healthcare professional has fallen below the standard of care expected by them which has caused harm or suffering to the patient. Common examples include misdiagnosis (5.1%)[1], surgical errors (5.8%)[2] and failure to refer (28.53%)[3].[4]
Legal requirements:
To bring a negligence claim, there are four key elements:[5]
- Duty of care
- It must be shown that a duty of care not to cause reasonable harm does exist between the medical practitioner and the patient.
- Typically, most healthcare professionals owe any patient a duty of care. To prove this, there must be a relationship of close proximity between the claimant and the defendant (Donoghue v Stevenson).
- Breach of duty
- For this, it is on the claimant to prove that the medical professional act or omission (failure to act) has fallen below the expected standard based on the balance of probabilities.
- For this, it must be shown that the medical professional has failed to exercise the skill and care of a reasonable competent person in their profession.[6] This means different standards are expected between professionals of different levels such as junior and senior doctors.
- Causation
- Factual causation – it must be proven that but for the acts/omissions of the medical practitioner, no harm or suffering would have occurred.
- Legal causation – this requires the court to note if the link between the defendant and the harm/suffering is strong enough to impose liability. Within this, the courts will look to see if there are any interviewing acts which break the chain of causation, making the professional not liable.
- Damage
- Requires proof of what harm or loss has been caused as a result of the negligence.
How to bring a claim:
There is a 3-year time limit from the date of the negligent act and the claim being issued. When you believe that you have a claim, contact a legal professional such as Summerfield Browne solicitors who deal with issues relating to clinical negligence.
[1] https://www.gadsbywicks.co.uk/insights/medical-negligence/nhs-medical-negligence-claims-statsistics
[2] https://www.gadsbywicks.co.uk/insights/medical-negligence/nhs-medical-negligence-claims-statsistics
[3] https://www.gadsbywicks.co.uk/insights/medical-negligence/nhs-medical-negligence-claims-statsistics
[4] https://martintaggart.com/what-is-medical-negligence-a-complete-guide-for-uk-patients/
[5] https://plus.lexis.com/uk/practical-guidance-uk/clinical-negligence-liabilityoverview/?crid=70766d72-16ce-4093-9572-1dfb1bc58489&pddocumentnumber=7
