Medical negligence and your rights
“He, who has health, has hope. And he, who has hope, has everything”.
There comes a moment in everyone’s life when they have to surrender themselves to the hands of a medical professionals for some treatment or the other.
If the same doctor, in whom we have put our trust, makes some mistake then it can lead to a severe injury or perhaps even death.
The negligence caused by a medical professional, that causes pain, stress, injury or death is called “medical negligence”.
It is sometimes referred to as “clinical negligence”.
Professionals need to act ethically and professionally at all times when they are at work and more so if they are medical professionals like doctors, nurses or dentists.
As it is a matter of life and death, a medical professional needs to be responsible at all times.
The medical negligence caused due to malpractice or poor judgment of health care professionals can have severe implications on the health of their patients.
If you have also suffered from medical negligence you may be entitled to compensation. You can make the claim if you have suffered any of the following injuries due to negligence or incompetence of health care professional.
• You need a surgery that was otherwise unnecessary prior to the negligence
• Birth injury caused through the fault of professions
• Ill-heath due to wrongly prescribed medication
• Prolonged or permanent disability caused due to surgical errors
• Long period of recovery
• Unanticipated infection, pain or scarring
• Symptoms that were not there prior to the treatment
It is difficult to win compensation claims in case of medical negligence. There may be a need of guidance from a legal expert to win your claim. The legal proceedings should be initiated within 3 years of the occurrence of the event causing injury. For those under 18 years the time limit starts from their 18th birthday.
The person claiming the damages, needs to prove that there was a breach of duty of care by the doctor and also has the responsibility to prove that it was actually the doctor’s fault/negligence that caused the injury.
It is necessary to show that whatever action the doctor took was inappropriate and below the standard procedure, in the field of medicine.
A 10 year old boy of Witney, Oxfordshire suffered severe brain damage at the time of his birth, caused due to the medical negligence. Due to this injury he needs to be taken care of at all times and will never be able to work.
He was awarded compensation worth £7.1 million which comprises of a lump sum of £2.3 million and balance on annual payments.
The boy was born in 1999 in a hospital in Oxford. He was delivered by caesarean section which should have been done four hours before he was actually delivered.
Due to this medical negligence, there was an oxygen deficiency that caused severe damage to his brain. The parents claimed compensation for this medical negligence and after a decade they received justice through this judgment.
Mr. Justice Holroyde paid tribute to the parents’ “devotion and unflagging energy”.
Updated on 10/14/2009