Medical Negligence - Claims, Cases and Lawyers

We rely on our doctors to know what they are doing when dealing with our medical health. Doctors are expected to take great efforts in providing a "duty of care" to their patients.

A medical negligence claim is a claim for compensation for injury caused by the negligence of a doctor, medical practitioner or hospital. It could include a dentist, midwife, nurse, or pharmacist.

There is a reasonable standard of care that must be taken when providing treatment as a health care practitioner. Failing to take reasonable care, in circumstances where the health care provider could or should have foreseen that their actions could injure you, is considered negligence. Negligence could pertain to a patient receiving below the reasonable standard of care resulting in an injury or a worsening of an existing injury.

When you receive treatment or receive advice from a doctor, dentist, hospital, nurse, etc.. you must be certain that you are -

• advised about risks that are associated with your medical treatment
• advised of all the possible outcomes of your medical treatments so you are educated on everything related to your outcome
• based on this information it should make you clearly aware of what is not supposed to happen and you may decipher intelligently what is considered medical negligence
• aware of a circumstance where your doctor or health care provider may have made a bad choice in treating you, causing you further injury or other
complications when utilizing another form of treatment would have prevented these complications.

If you have suffered damage, loss or injury, that is the result of negligent medical treatment, then you may be entitled to compensation. The following are examples of treatment that may be considered negligent depending on the case specifics -

• failing to perform surgery with reasonable care and skillset
• failing to report correctly on test results
• failing to provide post-operative care with reasonable care and skill.
• failing to diagnose a condition correctly- serious misdiagnosis
• failing to provide the best suited treatment for the condition
• failing to refer to a specialist as necessary
• significant delay in time sensitive diagnosis cases
• failing to advise of all possible risks associated with a treatment

In some parts of Australia, the common law applies so that courts do not judge a doctor's competence. Clinical negligence is best judged by the stringent specifics of one's practicing profession and "duty of care".

Though there are some exceptions to this rule, in some States a doctor is not considered negligent in his decision to act if it was in fact a treatment widely accepted by peer professional opinion in strong numbers being well respected doctors in their field. In many cases peer professional opinion does not have to be universally accepted to be considered widely accepted. It is up to the court to determine after hearing all of the evidence of the case including the opinion (s) of independent medical experts whether reasonable "duty of care" was practiced.

Be aware, that just because something goes wrong medically, it does not always mean there is grounds for a "Negligence" or "Malpractice" claim.

At Legal Injury you may plead your case here with us and if grounds for negligence are determined, then you may be able to claim "Damages". Damages can and will include -

• pain and suffering you have experienced, from the original injury or illness and any and all new injuries and aggravations
• lost income recovering from the condition which was attributed to the negligence
• future economic loss as a result of the health practitioners negligence
• doctors costs associated with treatment, medications, nursing services, rehabilitation courses assisting in the recovery and injury repair process