How Much Compensation for Medical Negligence?
If you believe that you or a loved one have been the victim of medical negligence and are thinking about making a claim for compensation, you may well be wondering how much a claim is worth.
There is no short answer to this. The value of a claim for compensation for medical negligence can vary considerably and requires the input of legal and medical specialists to make a realistic and fair assessment.
Here we consider a few of the factors which can affect the value of a claim.
Do you have a valid claim?
The first question to be addressed if whether or not you have a valid claim.
You can only make a claim for compensation for what are judged to be the consequences of medical negligence. This raises two questions:
- Has negligence or a breach of duty occurred in the quality of your care?
- If so, has the negligence caused you to suffer any detrimental outcome which would not have been the case had the negligence not occurred?
If the answer to both these questions is 'yes', then it is likely that you have a valid claim. You should discuss this with a legal specialist.
However, if it is considered that you would have suffered the same symptoms and consequences even without the negligence, it is unlikely that you will be able to make a claim.
How has the negligence affected you?
- If the symptoms caused by the negligence have affected your ability to work, causing you to suffer a loss of income, that financial loss would be taken into account in a successful compensation claim. This would include the income losses up to the point of your claim as well as anticipated future income losses.
- If you now require on-going or future treatment or therapy, these costs, in so far as they have been caused by medical negligence, would be taken into account.
- If you require personal care, equipment or other form of personal support due to the consequences of the negligence, these costs would be included.
- If you are no longer able to function in your current accommodation and require either alterations to be carried out or to move to new accommodation, these costs could be taken into account.
How old are you?
Your age when the negligence occurred will also be a factor in calculating the value of your claim. If your claim for loss of future earnings relates to a period of 15 years, it will obviously result in a higher claim than if you would normally only continue working for a further 5 years.
The same would apply when calculating the costs of care if this is considered to be necessary.
Specialist legal advice
If you are thinking of making a claim for compensation, it is essential that you obtain specialist legal advice. An experienced medical negligence lawyer will be able to access the best medical experts who will be able to judge the quality of your care and its impact on you as well as assessing your future needs.
Glynns Solicitors is a dedicated medical negligence legal practice with a team of experienced lawyers. Contact us to talk to a specialist, free of charge, about the possibility of making a claim for compensation.
Please call us free on 0800 234 3300 or complete our Online Enquiry Form.
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