When you seek the services of a doctor or health care practitioner, you have the right, as a consumer of medical treatment, to expect that you will be provided with accurate and timely diagnoses, appropriate and relevant care, and proper information so that you can consent to a procedure that will deliver you the best outcome for recovery and quality of life.
Sometimes, doctors or health care practitioners will make errors in diagnoses or treatment, fail to provide timely or complete information to patients, or fail to secure consent for treatment, or the facility where the treatment is being conducted will adversely affect the planned treatment or care.
Seeking Restitution for Loss of Earnings or Quality of Life
This type of medical malpractice or clinical negligence can cause people to suffer short to medium-term or permanent injury or illness, or even cause death in extreme cases. The practical of clinical negligence law allows for patients that have suffered this kind of malpractice to see restitution in the form of having their expenses for further treatment be paid, or compensation for loss of capacity to earn a living, or loss of quality of life.
Seeking Specialist Advice
While many attorneys can handle a number of different types of law, such as personal injury, wills and estates, traffic related matters, and contracts, clinical negligence is a very specialised area.Since negligence legal principles differ from every other area of law, it is always best to seek the services of a clinical negligence law firm such as Mintons Solicitors.
Seeking Information Upfront
When you first make contact with a clinical negligence law firm, you will want to ask them a series of questions so that you feel comfortable about issuing them with instructions to handle your case. You will want to determine the extent of their experience with matters similar to yours. Then you may want to probe them for information about how they have handled those matters for other clients. For example, did they negotiate settlements in favour of the client, or did they proceed to trial?
You might also like to find out what their costs are. Some clinical negligence law firms have a No Win No Fee platform, but this doesn’t always mean you get the best service. Finally, you will want to ask how they will keep in contact with you, what the process is, and what information they will need to obtain and how long they think the process will take. Any reputable clinical negligence law firm will happily answer these questions during a free first consultation.
Getting Your Claim Started
To proceed with a case, you will need to furnish your clinical negligence law firm with information that will help them to prove your case. Some of this information you will have at hand, and your attorney will obtain other information from other sources.This might involve any correspondence between you and the doctor or any other providers related to the treatment (providers of x-rays, pathology, etc.), witness statements from those present during the time the treatment was performed, and any professional opinions sought from other practitioners.
