While there is a high standard of healthcare in the UK, medical mistakes can happen during surgery. According to the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1 in 400 hospital admissions results in a serious medical or surgical error. This can be disheartening for patients who undergo surgery to improve their health, only to find themselves suffering from additional complications.
However, if you’ve suffered from surgery negligence, you may be entitled to compensation for the harm you’ve endured.
In this article, we’ll discuss surgery negligence and help you understand whether you’re eligible for compensation. We’ll look at the different types of surgery negligence, explain the compensation process, and discuss how experienced medical solicitors can help you get fair compensation.
Injured during surgery? Contact OH Parsons to see if you’re eligible for compensation.
What Is Surgical Negligence?
In the UK, medical professionals owe a duty of care to patients. This is a legal obligation to provide a standard of reasonable care to prevent harm to the patient.
Whether it’s cosmetic surgery or open surgery, surgical negligence is when a general surgeon or surgical team fails to provide the expected standard of care, causing harm to the patient.
To claim surgical negligence, the patient must prove that the surgeon’s actions or inactions directly caused them harm and that the harm would not have occurred if the surgeon had provided the appropriate standard of care.
Common Types of Surgical Errors
Surgical negligence can occur at the pre-operative, operative, or post-operative stage. It typically occurs from errors in judgment, lack of skill, or poor communication between healthcare professionals. There are many types of surgical errors, some of the most common being:
- Organ or nerve damage: Unintentional damage to nerves, organs, or tissues. This can lead to long-term complications or disabilities.
- Infection: Post-operative infections due to poor sterilisation techniques or inadequate post-operative care.
- Anaesthesia errors: Mistakes in administering anaesthesia, such as incorrect dosage or failure to monitor the patient’s vital signs.
- Wrong-site surgery: Operating on the wrong part of the body. Occurs approximately once per 100,000 procedures.
- Retained surgical instruments: Leaving surgical tools or materials inside the patient’s body following the procedure. Estimated incidence rate of 1.3 per 10,000 surgical procedures.
Surgical errors can cause significant harm to patients, resulting in additional medical treatments, prolonged recovery times, and decreased quality of life for years to come.
How to Prove Surgical Negligence
Proving surgical negligence can be challenging. Patients must demonstrate that their surgeon’s actions deviated from the accepted standard of care and caused direct harm. To prove negligence, the claimant must establish four key elements:
- Duty of care: Explain the standard of care owed to them.
- Breach of duty of care: Prove their surgeon breached this duty.
- Causation: Show how the breach caused their injury.
- Damages: Prove the physical, emotional, and financial impact of the injury.
Gathering evidence is a crucial component of this process. Medical records, expert testimonies, and witness statements can all help prove a breach of duty of care that led to an injury. Evidence of additional medical treatments, medical expenses, and the impact on quality of life are essential to proving damages.
Make sure to keep a record of any follow-up treatments, additional expenses, and the impact of the negligence on daily life to build a strong case.
The medical negligence solicitors at OH Parsons can help you gather the necessary evidence to prove surgery negligence.
The Role of Medical Records and Expert Testimony
Medical records and expert testimonies play a vital role in proving surgical negligence. Accurate and comprehensive medical records document the patient’s condition before, during, and after the surgical procedure. This helps establish the standard of care provided and identifies any errors made by the surgical team.
Expert testimony from a qualified medical professional can also support a negligence claim. Medical experts can review the medical records, analyse the surgeon’s actions, and offer their professional opinion on whether the standard of care was met. Unbiased testimonies can help clarify complex medical issues and strengthen the claimant’s case.
Steps to Make a Surgery Negligence Claim
To make a surgery negligence claim, the first step is to gather evidence, including medical records, photographs, and witness statements. Work with a medical negligence solicitor to collect and analyse evidence, secure expert testimonies, and establish the extent of the damages suffered.
Claimants have three years from the time of the injury to make a claim. This is known as the personal injury limitation period. Your solicitor can file your claim with the relevant health authority or their legal representative.
After filing a claim, you can seek compensation through settlement negotiations. Your solicitor can initiate settlement negotiations with the defendant’s legal representatives and present the evidence to secure compensation. If a settlement cannot be reached, your legal counsel can take the case to court, where a judge will determine the outcome based on the evidence presented.
How Much Compensation Can You Receive?
Compensation amounts depend on each individual case. Victims of surgical negligence are entitled to two different types of damages:
- Special damages: Quantifiable financial losses (eg medical bills, lost income).
- General damages: Intangible damages (pain and suffering, and loss of amenity).
Medical, legal, and economic experts play a crucial role in calculating compensation entitlements. Experts can assess medical records and evaluate the long-term impact of negligence on quality of life. Financial experts can assess the long-term financial consequences of surgical negligence, such as lost income or future medical bills.
How OH Parsons LLP Can Help With Your Claim
The knowledgeable legal team at OH Parsons has extensive experience with surgical negligence cases. We guide clients through every step of the claims process, from compiling strong evidence and securing expert testimony to calculating compensation amounts and negotiating fair settlements.
Our skilled solicitors work tirelessly to build robust surgery negligence cases, proving that clinicians breached their duty of care, resulting in harm and damages. We can help you reach a fair settlement during negotiations, and if your case goes to court, we can advocate on your behalf to ensure you receive fair compensation.
We also recognise the stress that comes with claiming compensation. Our expert legal team can reduce the emotional burden of surgical negligence by helping you navigate every step of the compensation process. And with our no win no fee guarantee, you only pay legal fees if we win your case.
Contact OH Parsons today to start your claim for surgical negligence.
