When you or a loved one has suffered harm or injury due to medical negligence, it’s essential to understand your rights and the process for making a claim. This blog provides a comprehensive guide to the steps to claim for medical negligence.

Seek Legal Advice:

The first step in pursuing a medical negligence claim is to consult with a solicitor experienced in clinical negligence cases. They can assess the merits of your case, help you understand your rights, and guide you through the legal process.

Establish the Standard of Care:

To make a successful claim, you must establish that the healthcare provider breached their duty of care. Your solicitor will help you gather evidence to demonstrate that the care you received fell below the expected standard.

Collect Evidence:

Your solicitor will assist you in collecting evidence to support your claim, which may include medical records, witness statements, expert opinions, and any relevant documentation.

Establish Causation:

It’s crucial to establish a direct link between the negligent care and the harm or injury you suffered. Your legal team will work to demonstrate that the breach of duty directly caused your condition or worsened an existing one.

Notify the Healthcare Provider:

Before initiating formal legal proceedings, your solicitor may send a Letter of Notification to the healthcare provider or institution involved. This letter outlines your intention to make a claim and invites them to respond.

Medical Negligence Mediation:

In some cases, mediation may be an option to resolve the dispute without going to court. Mediation involves a neutral third party who facilitates discussions between you and the healthcare provider to reach a settlement.

Issue Court Proceedings:

If mediation is unsuccessful or not pursued, your solicitor will file court proceedings on your behalf. The healthcare provider will have the opportunity to respond to the claim.

Expert Witness Testimony:

Medical negligence claims often require expert witness testimony from healthcare professionals who can provide opinions on the standard of care and causation. Your solicitor will engage appropriate experts to support your case.

Negotiations and Settlement:

Throughout the legal process, there may be opportunities for negotiation with the healthcare provider’s legal team to reach a settlement. If an agreement is reached, your claim can be resolved without a court trial.

Court Proceedings and Trial:

If a settlement cannot be reached, the case will proceed to trial. Both parties will present their evidence, and a judge will make a decision based on the merits of the case.

Compensation:

If your claim is successful, you may be awarded compensation to cover medical expenses, loss of earnings, rehabilitation costs, and other losses incurred due to the negligence.

Our NJS Law Medical Negligence Specialists are sympathetic, understanding, and can help you get the outcome you deserve.

If you would like to discuss an issue, please get in touch to arrange a free no obligation consultation. We’re available by email or phone.

Medical negligence, often referred to as clinical negligence, occurs when a healthcare professional provides care that falls below the expected standard, resulting in harm or injury to the patient.

Medical negligence can take various forms, and understanding these forms is crucial for patients and their families. This post aims to shed light on common types of medical negligence.

Types of Medical Negligence

Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis:

• Misdiagnosis: Occurs when a healthcare professional incorrectly identifies a patient’s condition, leading to incorrect treatment or delayed treatment for the actual condition.
• Delayed Diagnosis: Involves healthcare providers failing to diagnose a condition promptly, which can allow the illness to progress and potentially worsen.

Surgical Errors:

• Wrong-Site Surgery: When a surgical procedure is performed on the wrong part of the body.
• Surgical Instruments Left Behind: Surgical tools or foreign objects being unintentionally left inside a patient’s body after surgery.
• Anaesthesia Errors: Mistakes in administering anaesthesia can result in adverse reactions or complications during surgery.

Medication Errors:

• Prescription Errors: Incorrect medication or dosage prescribed to a patient, often leading to harmful side effects or inadequate treatment.
• Dispensing Errors: Pharmacists providing the wrong medication or dosage to a patient resulting in harm or injury to the patient.

Birth Injuries:

Injuries sustained by a newborn or mother during childbirth due to medical negligence. Examples include cerebral palsy or shoulder dystocia/erb’s palsy.

Failure to Monitor or Act on Changes in Patient Condition:

Healthcare providers have a duty to continuously monitor patients and take appropriate action if their condition deteriorates. Failure to do so can result in harm.

Hospital-Acquired Infections:

Patients may contract infections while receiving treatment in a healthcare facility due to inadequate hygiene and infection control measures.

Psychiatric Negligence:

Involves negligent care or misdiagnosis in the field of mental health, leading to harm to the patient.

Nursing Home Negligence:

Occurs when residents of nursing homes or care facilities are subject to substandard care, leading to injuries or health deterioration.

Radiological and Imaging Errors:

Errors in interpreting X-rays, MRIs, or other diagnostic images, which can result in incorrect diagnoses or delayed treatment.

Failure to Refer to Specialists:

Healthcare providers may fail to refer patients to specialists when needed, which can delay proper diagnosis and treatment.

If you or a loved one believe you have been a victim of medical negligence, it’s essential to consult with a solicitor experienced in medical negligence cases. They can assess the circumstances, gather evidence, and help you pursue a legal claim for compensation and justice. Understanding the forms of medical negligence is the first step toward protecting your rights and holding healthcare providers accountable for substandard care.

Our NJS Law Medical Negligence Specialists are sympathetic, understanding, and can help you get the outcome you deserve.

If you would like to discuss an issue, please get in touch to arrange a free no obligation consultation. We’re available by email or phone.

Sepsis is a killer that few people have heard of; however, it causes more deaths globally per year than bowel, breast, and pancreatic cancer combined and almost 25 per cent of fatalities are preventable.

What makes these statistics even more concerning is that new research from Germany suggests that the four screening tools* used worldwide to identify cases of life-threatening sepsis are flawed.

Sepsis can be successfully treated with antibiotics if it is caught early. But unfortunately, healthcare professionals can delay diagnosing sepsis. This can lead to post-sepsis syndrome and other physical and psychological complications. If this has happened to you, you may have a medical negligence claim, and if you win, you are likely to be awarded compensation.

What is sepsis?

Sepsis (also known as blood poisoning) is a potentially life-threatening medical condition that occurs when the body’s response to infection goes haywire, leading to widespread inflammation and organ dysfunction. Sepsis can develop in response to several types of infections, including bacterial, viral, fungal, or parasitic infections.

Sepsis typically progresses as follows:

• Infection – Sepsis usually starts with an infection somewhere in the body, such as the lungs (pneumonia), urinary tract, abdomen (e.g., from a ruptured appendix), or an open wound.
• Immune response – In response to the infection, the body’s immune system releases chemicals into the bloodstream to fight the invading pathogens. While this is a normal and essential response, in sepsis, the immune response becomes uncontrolled and can lead to excessive inflammation.
• Systemic inflammation – The excessive release of chemicals can trigger a widespread inflammatory response throughout the body. This can result in various symptoms, including fever, rapid heart rate and breathing, low blood pressure, and confusion.
• Organ dysfunction – In severe cases of sepsis, the inflammation can disrupt the normal functioning of vital organs, such as the heart, kidneys, lungs, liver, and others. This can lead to organ impairment or failure, which can cause death.

Severe sepsis and septic shock are advanced stages of sepsis. Severe sepsis is where the illness progresses to the point where one or more organs begin to fail. This condition requires immediate medical attention. Septic shock is the most critical stage of sepsis, characterised by extremely low blood pressure and an elevated risk of multiple organ failure.

Early recognition and prompt treatment of sepsis are crucial. Treatment typically involves antibiotics to target the underlying infection, fluids to maintain blood pressure and organ function, and sometimes other supportive therapies like vasopressors (to raise low blood pressure) or mechanical ventilation in severe cases.

Why is there sometimes a delay in diagnosing sepsis?

Delays in diagnosing sepsis can occur for assorted reasons and can have grave consequences due to the rapid progression of the condition. Some common reasons for a delayed sepsis diagnosis include:

• In the preliminary stages, sepsis can present with symptoms that are non-specific and can resemble other less severe conditions. Symptoms include fever, increased heart rate, rapid breathing, confusion, and weakness.
• Sepsis is a complicated condition, and not all healthcare providers may be fully aware of the latest guidelines and criteria for diagnosing sepsis. This lack of awareness can result in missed opportunities for early intervention.
• Sepsis can affect multiple organ systems, leading to a complex and varied clinical presentation. The symptoms and signs of sepsis may overlap with those of other medical conditions, making it challenging to diagnose accurately.
• Healthcare providers may initially underestimate the severity of the patient’s condition, especially if the patient’s vital signs are not significantly abnormal.
• Shift changeovers, the widespread use of agency staff, and cross-departmental care can lead to communication breakdowns, which can in turn result in a patient’s sepsis not being diagnosed until it is too late.
• If an infection lies deep within the body and/or the patient has several medical issues, sepsis can be hard to spot.
• Sepsis can present differently in children and the elderly.
• Staff shortages and lack of equipment can mean conditions with difficult diagnosis such as sepsis can be missed.

The issue of late diagnosis of sepsis and other conditions is so serious that the Government has backed bringing in Martha’s rule in England. It will ensure that patients and their families can get a second medical opinion if they believe their concerns are not being taken seriously by medical staff.

This follows a campaign by Martha Mill’s parents. Martha died in 2021 after developing sepsis following a fall from her bike which caused a pancreatic injury. A Coroner ruled that Martha would likely have survived if doctors had identified sepsis warning signs and transferred her to intensive care.

How can NJS Law help with a delayed diagnosis for sepsis medical negligence claim?

We have an exceptionally talented and experienced medical negligence team who can advise and represent you in making a compensation claim. 

If you believe healthcare professionals delayed diagnosing your sepsis and this has led you to suffer physical and/or psychological damage, please contact us immediately. Under the Limitations Act 1980, you only have three years to make a claim for medical negligence, so time is of the essence.

Our solicitors are compassionate and caring, as well as extremely tenacious when it comes to fighting to ensure you receive rehabilitation and compensation.

Please call us on 01 625 667166 or email us today to discuss your claim.

*NEWS2 (National Early Warning Score), qSOFA (quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment), MEWS (Modified Early Warning Score) and SIRS (Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome)