MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE LAWYER

No Win No Fee 

Medical Negligence claims are run on a no win no fee basis which means that you will not pay for our legal fees unless we have successfully resolved your matter. Generally, compensation claims are run on a No Win No Fee basis which means that you don’t pay a cent on legal fees if you are unsuccessful, however, some solicitors still charge for disbursements. At Jameson Law, we have a guaranteed No Win No Fee Agreement including any legal costs and disbursements we incur to run your case. This means that if your claim is not successful, we do not charge you anything. This allows us to maintain a high rate of success as we will let you know upfront if we feel that your case will not win. Any costs payable to Jameson Law will be deducted from, and will not exceed, any compensation that you are entitled to receive meaning you will not pay anything out of pocket.

Medical Negligence and Duty of Care

Negligent medical treatment is not necessarily surgical errors or unsuccessful medical procedures. Medical negligence law considers whether a healthcare professional or medical expert has failed to meet the required standard of care in providing medical care to a patient. General practitioners and other medical professionals are required to exercise reasonable care when treating patients. Medical negligence occurs when the acceptable standard is not met; that is the duty of care is breached. Examples of medical negligence include misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of a medical condition, failure to make an appropriate referral, misinterpreting or delaying in the interpretation of blood test results, failure to maintain any or adequate medical records. Any of these acts or omissions which result in injury or even death are a basis for seeking medical negligence compensation. A critical element of a medical negligence claim or any compensation claim for that matter is ‘causation’. This literally refers to the cause of the injury. In order to commence legal action against an insurance company, you must prove that the injury was sustained as a result of the accident/incident. The incident must be due to the fault of their insured in order for liability to be accepted. In medical negligence claims, doctors would be indemnified by professional indemnity insurance. There are other hurdles that must be overcome in order to bring a claim. Another essential part of making a claim is time limits.  Generally speaking, a limitation period of 3-years applies across all types of claims. However, the complexity in determining whether the 3 years have lapsed is trying to ascertain when they commence. The reformed Limitation Act 1969 has since 2002 altered the date on which these 3-years commence. The time limit within which to bring a claim in accordance with the 2002 Act is 3-years from the date of discoverability and not necessarily the date of accident or incident. The meaning of ‘discoverability’ is also covered in the act. For example, in a medical negligence claim, the 3-years do not necessarily commence from the date that you were provided with the misdiagnosis but rather the date you discovered that you were provided with a misdiagnosis and/or the date you suffered the effects of that misdiagnosis.