Clinical Negligence claims are extremely difficult for all parties especially the Claimant who has suffered injury or illness due to a failure of their doctors, however often Claimant’s do not know whether they have a claim and what they legally have to prove, to succeed. This article talks about how to bring a successful Clinical Negligence claim.
There are three main aspects of proving a case for Clinical Negligence. To succeed in a Clinical Negligence claim, it is necessary to prove that (i) the doctor owed you a duty of care, (ii) the doctor was in breach of his duty of care and (iii) that the breach caused you to suffer an injury.
Duty of Care
There is usually no difficulty in establishing this in a Clinical Negligence claim, because you are likely to have been a patient of the doctor, nurse or hospital who failed to provide you with appropriate medical treatment.
Breach of Duty of Care
To show that there has been a breach of duty of care, it is necessary to show that the treatment, investigation, or lack of treatment fell below the standard of a reasonably competent doctor. The doctor will be successful in defending the claim if he can evidence that a responsible body of doctors in the relevant field would have taken the same actions or treated the patient in the same way.
This means that in a case of alleged negligent treatment, for example a doctor giving one medicine to a patient rather than another, a doctor will be able to defend a claim if there is a responsible body of other doctors who confirm that they would have given the same medicine to treat the illness, even if the same injury would have resulted.
Causation of Injury
The hardest part of a Clinical Negligence claim to prove is causation of injury. Almost always, Clinical Negligence claims arise where the Claimant is already unwell or has some underlying medical condition. This can mean it is possible that regardless of the breach of duty, the injuries could have occurred in any event.
If a breach of duty can be proven, it is necessary in order to obtain damages to show that the breach either directly caused your injuries or materially contributed to your injuries. Effectively, what has to be proven is that “but for” the doctor’s negligence, no injury, or less severe injuries would have occurred.
The way to establish both breach of duty and causation of injury is by way of an expert report from a medical expert in the relevant field. If they are able to establish breach of duty and causation of injury, a Clinical Negligence claim will likely be successful and individual losses would then be considered. If they are able to establish breach of duty but not causation of injury, no claim can be pursued for damages.
The reason for this is the Court will only order damages to put the Claimant in the position they would have been in but for the negligence, and if causation cannot be proven, breach of duty alone does not lead to loss.
If you have a potential clinical negligence claim, contact our Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence Department on 0116 255 1811 or visit or website to enter information regarding a new enquiry.
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