If you sustained avoidable harm during medical treatment, you might be asking yourself, “how long does a medical negligence claim take?”. This article will address this question. Additionally, it will give you information to help determine whether medical negligence has taken place and the pre-action protocols that should be fulfilled.
How long does a medical negligence claim take?
Later in the article, we will discuss how one of the medical negligence solicitors on our panel may be able to offer you a No Win No Fee agreement. This could benefit your potential claim, as it allows you to access a solicitor’s services without paying upfront or ongoing fees.
Read on to learn more about how long a medical negligence claim could take. Afterwards, you can contact our team of advisers if you still have questions. They can offer free legal advice based on your personal circumstances. Reach us today:
- Call our advisers at 0113 460 1216
- Chat with our team using the chat box
- Ask your questions via our contact form
Choose A Section
- How Long Does A Medical Negligence Claim Take? – A Guide
- What Could Lead To A Medical Negligence Claim?
- What Is The Medical Negligence Claim Process?
- Claiming For Medical Negligence – What Could You Receive?
- Why Make A No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Claim?
- Learn More About How Long A Medical Negligence Claim Does Take
How Long Does A Medical Negligence Claim Take? – A Guide
Each claim is unique and may contain different combinations of factors that may affect how long a medical negligence claim could take. For example, a medical negligence claim could be made for:
However, not all instances of harm or complications in medical treatment will be grounds for a claim. You must show that unnecessary harm occurred as a result of a breach of duty of care. We will look at the duty of care that you are owed in the next section.
Furthermore, sometimes harm is unavoidable when you’re seeking medical care. For instance, you might be prescribed medication that has side effects that make you ill but that you need to treat a condition that you’re suffering from.
Contact our advisers if you have questions about a specific aspect of your potential claim.
What Could Lead To A Medical Negligence Claim?
Every healthcare professional owes a duty of care to their patients, which means they need to provide a minimum standard of care and prevent avoidable harm. You may be able to claim if you sustained avoidable harm because your GP, nurse, surgeon, anaesthetist, or other professional did not provide you with the correct level of care.
You can establish whether your circumstances form the basis for a medical negligence claim by asking the following questions:
- Did a medical professional owe you a duty of care?
- Was this duty of care breached?
- As a direct result of this breach, did you sustain physical or mental harm that could have been avoided with the right level of care?
Below, we have included examples of how you could be caused harm in a medical setting as the result of a potential breach of duty of care:
- A mix-up in your medical records means you’re prescribed medication you’re allergic to. These kinds of medication errors can have serious effects on your health.
- Fail to attribute the correct level of importance to several of your symptoms. This could result in a misdiagnosis, which means your condition progresses without the right treatment.
- Use unnecessary force during the birthing process, which could cause a birth injury to the mother or child. This could constitute medical negligence if the force used is inappropriate to the situation.
- During an operation, a surgeon performs the procedure on the wrong part of the body, this could mean you then need to undergo another operation on the right part of the body, and experience unnecessary pain and suffering. This is an example of a never event.
Contact our team of advisers if you have questions about determining whether medical negligence contributed to your circumstances. Our team is available 24/7, and this consultation is free.
What Is The Medical Negligence Claim Process?
When claiming for medical negligence, certain pre-action protocols need to be followed. These are steps that need to be taken to avoid a claim being taken to court. We have included them below:
- Obtaining Health Records. The claimant requests relevant health records. The defendant must comply with the request within 40 days or provide a prompt explanation as to why they cannot.
- Rehabilitation. The claimant and defendant should discuss any reasonable needs in terms of rehabilitative treatment or other measures.
- Letter of Notification. The claimant notifies the defendant of their intent to claim. In their acknowledgement, the defendant should identify who will be dealing with the claim.
- Letter of Claim. The claimant should clearly outline the facts about what happened, including details of the alleged outcome and alleged negligence.
- Letter of Response. The defendant must provide a response within four months of receiving the letter of claim. This letter must either admit the claim, admit part of the claim, or deny the claim.
- Experts. Both parties may consult experts on breach of duty, the patient’s condition and prognosis, the value of the claim, and other related matters.
- Alternative Dispute Resolution. This stage of the pre-action protocol could involve inviting a third party to make a decision about the case.
Contact our advisers to learn how this process could affect how long a medical negligence claim could take.
Is There A Time Limit To A Medical Negligence Claim?
There is a time limit that applies to claiming for medical negligence. Generally, you must claim within three years of sustaining the injury or within three years of realising your harm was sustained as a result of negligence.
There are exceptions to these limits, which you can discuss with our advisers. For example, an individual under the age of 18 or who lacks the mental capacity to claim will have their limit suspended while they’re legally unable to pursue their own claim. However, under certain circumstances, a family member or litigation friend may begin a claim on their behalf.
Claiming For Medical Negligence – What Could You Receive?
A hospital negligence claim for harm caused by medical negligence could warrant a payout that includes up to two heads of claim. The first of these is called general damages, which is intended to recompense you for the pain and suffering caused by your injury, and the second is called special damages, which is intended to help you recoup financial losses.
When assessing how much a claim could be worth, a solicitor will usually turn to the Judicial College Guidelines to help them assess general damages. This is a document that contains compensation brackets for different kinds of harm that could result from negligence.
| Affected Body Part | Compensation Brackets | Further Information |
|---|---|---|
| Kidney | £169,400 to £210,400 | Serious and permanent damage to or loss of both kidneys. |
| Kidney | £30,770 to £44,880 | Loss of one kidney with no damage to the second. |
| Female Reproductive System | £114,900 to £170,280 | Infertility brought about by injury or disease, accompanied by severe depression, pain, scarring and other symptoms. Could include failure to diagnose ectopic pregnancy. |
| Lung Disease | £70,030 to £97,330 | Lung cancer causing severe pain and impairment of both quality of life and function. |
| Bladder | £63,980 to £79,930 | Serious control impairment and some pain/incontinence. |
| Injuries Affecting Sight | £49,270 to £54,830 | Complete loss of sight in one eye. |
| Digestive System (b) (i) | £38,430 to £52,500 | Severe toxicosis that results in hospitalisation for days or weeks. |
| Asthma | £26,290 to £43,010 | Chronic asthma leading to breathing difficulties, occasional need for inhaler, uncertain prognosis, and restriction of employment prospects. |
| Impairment of Taste and Smell | In the region of £39,170 | Complete loss of taste and smell. |
| Impairment of Taste and Smell | £32,900 to £39,170 | Complete loss of taste and significant loss of smell. |
The figures shown in the above table are intended only as guidance. Your actual compensation could differ due to the specifics of your circumstances or negotiations that occur during the pre-action protocol.
When Can You Claim For Special Damages?
Special damages are intended as a way to help you recoup financial losses that arise as a direct result of your injury. For example, they may help you recoup:
- Past and future lost earnings
- Consultation fees, hospital charges, and prescription costs
- Transportation costs that result from travelling to and from hospital visits
You should keep records of your financial outlays, such as receipts or bank statements. This is because you will need to provide evidence in order to receive this head of claim. Speak to our advisers, who can tell you about other losses that may be recouped through special damages.
Why Make A No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Claim?
The medical negligence claim process can involve a number of steps. It is, therefore, difficult to provide an estimate of how long a medical negligence claim may take.
When making a claim for medical negligence, you could access the services of No Win No Fee solicitors without having to pay upfront fees. A solicitor could help you navigate the steps involved with claiming compensation, possibly reducing the amount of time it takes for your claim to be resolved.
The medical negligence solicitors on our panel may be able to offer their services under a type of No Win No Fee agreement known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Using this kind of arrangement means that you generally won’t pay for your solicitor’s services in the event your claim fails. Likewise, you usually don’t have to pay upfront or during the claims process.
However, your solicitor will take a success fee if your claim succeeds. This fee is subject to a legal cap.
Contact our advisers to speak to someone about how to claim for medical negligence. There is no obligation to continue using our services afterwards, and our advisers can offer legal insight into your particular set of circumstances. Reach us today:
- Call our advisers at 0113 460 1216
- Chat with our team using the chat box
- Ask your questions via our contact form
Learn More About How Long A Medical Negligence Claim Does Take
Other guides we have written:
How To Find Birth Injury Solicitors
Medication Errors in Care Homes – Could I Claim?
Useful additional resources:
Good Medical Practice For Doctors – The General Medical Council’s guidance for doctors
Standards for Pharmacists – The General Pharmaceutical Council’s standards for registered pharmacies and pharmaceutical professionals.
The Nursing Code – The Nursing and Midwifery Council’s standards of care for nurses, midwives, and nursing associates.
We hope this guide has provided useful information about how long a medical negligence claim could take. To find out more, contact us using the details below.
Writer Morgan Filly
Publisher Fern Smith
