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How Do I File a Medical Negligence Claim?

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Medical negligence is a legal recourse that occurs when a medical or health care professional, through a negligent act or omission, acts abnormally to professional standards, causing injury to a patient. The negligence could stem from errors in diagnosis, treatment, aftercare or health management. If you’re thinking of filing a medical negligence claim there are some considerations you’ll need to reflect on. There’ll be procedural hoops for you to jump through and various key steps to take. Below, we explore how the process of filing a claim works.

Contact the medical professional/practice involved

Before initiating legal action, it can be helpful to contact the professional or practice involved in your case. Most of the time, a professional will be keen to work with you to sort out any issues – they might offer corrective surgery, or explain to you what happened during your medical case. By facilitating a discussion there’s a chance you won’t need to end up in court.

Contact a medical malpractice solicitor 

The next place to go is to contact a medical negligence solicitor. You must start your legal claim within 3 years from when the incident happened or when you first realised you’d suffered an injury. In the case of children, the 3-year limit doesn’t start to apply until their 18th birthday. In either situation though, it’s best to seek expert advice as soon as possible. A solicitor will evaluate your case and see if it’s strong enough to take.

Gather medical records and evidence

For the best chance of success keep a record of paperwork that’s relevant to your treatment and a record of any loss of earnings. Alongside this, it’s helpful to find evidence of all the expenses you’ve had to pay as a result of negligence. Overall, these documents will form the basis of your case – without them it’ll be difficult to convince a solicitor to take your case on. Your solicitor should be able to estimate the compensation you’re entitled to.

Filing the medical negligence complaint: see how much you can earn by seeing advice or using a claims calculator

A claims calculator can be a useful tool to try and work out the compensation your medical negligence claim might secure for you. If you’re early in the process of formulating your claim, the calculator can still be useful at providing a guideline figure for the compensation you might receive.

Filing a medical negligence claim can be a stressful time – especially as there’s all the evidence you need to assemble. But by contacting a trusted solicitor and carefully checking a claims calculator you should be well set to pursue your claim.