Technology has advanced quite a lot in recent years, with developments appearing across all industries. With this in mind, it’s easy to believe that errors are essentially a thing of the past, back when people didn’t have many resources at their disposal.
However, this isn’t entirely the truth. While processes are certainly more efficient, and technology has improved livelihoods overall, mistakes can still sneak their way in.
One of the most dramatic areas where this can occur is in healthcare. Medical errors are estimated to account for roughly 250,000 deaths annually, making them a leading cause of death among the general public.
If you’ve been in this situation, you must look for answers and what you can do to remedy the situation. Here’s how to regain control of your own life following medical negligence.
What is negligence?
Before you think about how you can obtain the justice you deserve, you must first make sure that you understand what clinical negligence entails. In broad terms, it refers to a situation where medical care providers don’t fulfil their obligation towards you and fail to abide by the duty of care they have towards you.
There are many situations that enter under the umbrella of medical negligence. Misdiagnosis is the most common, as some illnesses can sometimes mimic each other, and differentiating between them can be challenging. Additional factors, such as pre-existing conditions, chronic diseases, and the medication you were taking at the time, can sometimes hamper the effort to ascertain a correct diagnosis.
However, it’s a particularly troublesome situation, as it means you’ll be given the incorrect treatment. This can exacerbate your condition or cause you to develop additional health problems. Left unchecked, a disease can even progress and become more complicated to treat.
Surgical mistakes can also occur and be particularly destructive for your overall welfare when they do. For instance, surgery can be performed at the wrong site, such as mistakenly performing a procedure on the left kidney that ought to have been done on the right.
Inadequate routes of medicine administration or foreign objects forgotten in the body post-surgery are frequent culprits as well. Botched procedures, anaesthesia mistakes, failure to correctly monitor your progress after surgery, or the failure to obtain your informed consent with regards to the procedure are unfortunately common examples of medical negligence as well.
What are your rights?
When it comes to medical negligence, it’s fair to wonder what exactly you can do about it. Several healthcare providers can be potentially liable for medical failure, including physicians, nurses, dentists and lab technicians. Any provider that provides subpar services and isn’t up to standard with regulations and the duty of care they owe you should be held accountable.
If you are considering starting a case, you should contact https://www.how-to-sue.co.uk/medical-negligence-claims/how-to-sue-the-nhs to better understand what you need to do to file a claim against the medical professional responsible for negligence. The case may broaden to include the healthcare institution involved, such as a hospital or clinic.
The amount you’re eligible to receive in compensation is entirely determined based on the particularities of your case but is typically established based on the injuries you sustained. If you were left struggling with severe physical and mental symptoms as a result of negligent treatment, the final sum you receive would be significantly larger than if your symptoms went away with minimal treatment or even mainly on their own.
There’s also the category of special damages, referring to the issues you encountered as a direct result of the physical damage you endured, but which don’t refer to health problems directly. Medical fees, appointments, professional recovery care, as well as possible loss of income if the health damage is particularly severe and leaves you unable to work, can all be included under special damages.
Proving negligent behaviour
When you take your case to court, you must also be able to support it. In order to do this, you must have the proper evidence at your disposal. You must provide documentation that proves the healthcare provider had a duty towards you they did not respect. As a result, you were directly harmed, and you seek compensation for the damage you sustained.
It’s important to keep all the documents you’ve received, particularly the medical bills you’ve accumulated through the period you’ve sought treatment to recover from the damage.
You can benefit from an expert report. A doctor can thoroughly examine your condition to objectively ascertain the problems you’ve experienced as a result of the malpractice. They ought to be completely impartial and have no prior knowledge of you or the negligent physician who administered your treatment before.
In some cases, you will require the assistance of witnesses to prove your case. These witnesses should be able to establish that the standard of care hasn’t been upheld in your case and that your situation meets the criteria for medical negligence.
However, there are some situations where negligence is so apparent that there’s no need for extra evidence to ascertain precisely what happened. For instance, forgetting surgical instruments inside is one such obvious case in which you are clearly the wounded party.
Heal from the damage
Medical negligence is a scary occurrence. When you enter your doctor’s office, you expect to be treated with care and find solutions to the medical problems bothering you. If, instead, you end up with an additional concern and the illness you went to seek treatment for worsens, you’ll have a pretty daunting situation on your hands.
The treatment you need can potentially be much more invasive to make up for the delayed diagnosis, and your chances of total recovery with no after-effects might be smaller.
When you are harmed, it can be tough to bounce back. But if you follow the advice of professionals, and prioritise self-care, you’ll be provided with a treatment scheme that helps you regain your health. It’s common to feel like you’re alone when you’re trudging through a challenging situation, but you’re not, and there are many people willing to help you overcome this time.
