Have You Suffered From Medical Negligence?

Medical negligence is when medical professionals make mistakes or fail in their duty of care to you, leading to injury or making an existing condition worse. There are a number of ways that medical negligence can happen, such as misdiagnosis, incorrect treatment or surgical mistakes. If you have suffered an injury as a result of medical treatment, this may be referred to as a ‘medical accident’ or ‘patient safety incident’. Or, your informed consent to treatment was not given.

You usually need to start a medical negligence claim within three years of finding out you have received negligent treatment (you may not realise straight away but only after your injury or illness becomes worse). However, there are a couple of exceptions to this rule:

Children – medical negligence claims involving a child can be made any time before your child turns 18. On your child’s 18th birthday the three-year rule comes into effect, so a claim needs to be started before they turn 21.

Mental Capacity – if a person lacks the capacity to make a claim themselves, there is no time limit for making a claim.

How long it takes for a medical negligence case to settle will depend on several things – most important will be the severity of your injury and whether the NHS or private healthcare provider responsible accepts fault.

Medical negligence claims can be settled within a few months, but more complicated cases can take a few years to settle.