Cornwall Medical Negligence Solicitors – No Win No Fee Claims Lawyers Guide

Medical negligence Cornwall

Medical negligence Cornwall

Making a claim for medical negligence can be stressful, with this in mind we have prepared a guide that could help you understand the processes of making a medical negligence claim in Conwall. Finding medical negligence solicitors in Conwall can be tricky, so we are here to provide advice on the types of questions that you may want to ask when making the decision on which solicitor you are going to choose.

You could remove the hassle though as our panel of medical negligence solicitors  cover the Cornwall area and could help with your claim. To talk to our advisors about how Medical Negligence Assist could help you with your search, please call 0800 652 3087 today.

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How To Choose A Medical Negligence Solicitor Covering The Cornwall Area

When choosing which solicitor to use to help make your medical negligence claim, you might want to check that you are likely to be able to claim.  If you answer yes to the following questions, then our panel of  medical negligence solicitors could help you with a no win no fee service:

  1. Did you receive treatment, from a medical professional, which could be deemed negligent, substandard, dangerous or careless?
  2. Were you made ill, injured, or did your existing medical condition become worse because of the negligent treatment?
  3. And did the treatment occur within the medical negligence claims time limit which is currently 3 years? (There are exceptions to this, please contact us to discuss further)

Many people seek advice from their family before choosing a solicitor and rely on reviews of solicitors they’re considering or ask friends for a recommendation. We’ll aim to  provide advice on what you should expect from a medical negligence solicitor when handling your claim .

After you’ve finished reading this guide, if you still have questions then our specialists are happy to offer free legal advice to help you decide whether you have a valid  claim for medical negligence.

Should I Look At Reviews Of Clinical Negligence Solicitors?

One place where you could start your search for a solicitor who is an expert in cases similar to yours is to look online for medical negligence solicitor reviews.  They offer a quick insight into how happy previous clients were with the service they were provided with.

However, we recommend you call the solicitor before signing up with them to find out:

  • How the solicitor would handle your claim.
  •  If you have a valid claim and what level of compensation you could be entitled to with regards to your specific injury.
  • How often they’ll provide updates throughout your claim.

Do I Have To Use A Medical Claims Solicitor In My Area?

Your first thought when choosing a solicitor might be, “I should find a medical negligence solicitor in my area”,  but you will be happy to know that there are no legal requirements for you to use a solicitor based in your area.  Therefore if there is a medical negligence solicitor based anywhere in the UK that has the knowledge and expertise in injury claims similar to yours, then you may want to pick them rather then ones local to the Conwall area.

Due to modern technology, many medical negligence solicitors  are happy to handle your claim over the telephone and email rather then face to face.

Therefore, you don’t necessarily need to base your decision on the location of the solicitor, you could look more at their history of making successful medical negligence claims.

Our Panel Of Doctors Could Conduct Your Medical Assessment

In order to make a successful claim form medical negligence in Cornwall, you will need to undergo a medical examination by an impartial medical expert who will be able to comment on the injuries you could have received as a result of malpractice. To ensure you don’t need to travel far when making your claim, if you decide to let our panel of medical negligence solicitors help you, they will provide you a Doctor who can carry out the medical assessment in an area close to you.  A sample is listed below:

Simon Wearne
Falmouth Osteopathic Clinic,
Falmouth, TR11 2DA.

Duchy Chiropractic Clinic,
2 Mount Folly,
Bodmin, PL31 2DB.

Walsingham Clinic,
Truro,Cornwall, TR1 2RP.

What Types Of Medical Negligence Cases Could Our Panel Of Solicitors Help You Claim For?

During the next few sections of this guide, we’re going to look at some scenarios of medical negligence which a personal injury lawyer may consider making a claim for.  Remember, for your case to be considered for a no win no fee claim, you’ll need to have received substandard care, within the last 3 years, which resulted in injury or illness. If your claim was longer then the 3 year time limit, there are exceptions, please contact us to find out if you are eligible.

Clinical Negligence Birth Injuries

Staff involved in the delivery of babies including midwives, paediatricians and doctors have to undergo years of training, mentoring and supervision to give them the skills required to manage anything from a basic birth to a complex delivery which could require surgery.

If a mother or baby is injured during the delivery because staff failed to follow their training, use the right procedure, deal with a problem incorrectly or omit to notice a problem that the would have reasonably been expected to then claim against the hospital might be necessary.  After all, some conditions caused by mistakes during childbirth could be life-changing.

Conditions like Cerebral Palsy and hypoxia caused because of a negligence can have a massive impact on parents and their child for the rest of their lives. A mother can also be harmed during childbirth resulting in avoidable harm being caused. An example of this could be retention of the placenta leading to infection.  There are many different levels of medical negligence that can occur as a result of a negligent child birth, and if you or your baby have suffered avoidable harm in Cornwall, then you could make a claim for personal injury using our panel of specialist solicitors who can cover your area.

Medical Negligence In Hospital Causing Injury And Illness

You would hope that if you attend a hospital, whether in an emergency or for a planned procedure, that any treatment would be successful.  In many cases, that’s true but there are occasions where a patient could  suffer an injury or illness because of a negligent act by hospital staff.

Here are some scenarios which could be deemed negligent and might lead to a claim for medical:

  • Illnesses contracted because a patient’s immune system was weakened by MRSA.
  • Symptoms worsening because of delayed treatment due to a misdiagnosis.
  • Injuries caused because protective bed rails were not used which could lead to a hospital fall negligence claim.

Nursing Home Negligence Examples

Most residents in a nursing home require bespoke levels of care to keep them as comfortable as possible and safe but they should all receive a minimum level of protection.  That’s why the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) devised a specific set of guidelines for care homes.

All staff should be trained to the highest standard possible, and should be confident in dealing with the complexities of the day to day life of residents within their care.  If staff fail to follow guidelines which causes a patient to suffer in any way, then a claim for compensation could be made by a patient or a  loved one if the patient is unable to claim themselves.

Some nursing home negligence examples include:

  • When a patient becomes ill because they don’t receive their prescribed medication or have received the incorrect medication.
  • Injuries caused by a fall because staff used incorrect lifting procedures.
  • Any suffering caused by bed sores where a patient wasn’t moved regularly.
  • Abuse in care or nursing homes.

Negligence In Surgery

Most forms of surgery, whether medical or cosmetic, can come with an element of risk.  You’ll usually be told about those risks by a surgeon or member of their team prior to the surgery.

Therefore, any injuries caused because of the inherent risks associated with your surgery probably wouldn’t lead to a compensation payment but when you suffer an injury or are made ill during surgery because of a negligent act, you may be able to make a claim for compensation against the hospital.

Some examples of surgical negligence include:

  • Injuries caused where the correct medical procedure wasn’t followed.
  • Suffering caused because an item of surgical equipment was left inside you.
  • Complications caused by ineffective suturing or inadequate surgical clips.
  • Mistakes with anaesthetic which cause you to wake during surgery.

Negligence In Cancer Medical Care

With many cancers, the earlier treatment begins, the better.  In many cases, where cancer is spotted early, treatment can begin quickly and either the cancer is cured, or it can be managed to offer the patient a good quality of life.

Any delay in spotting the cancer can lead to the symptoms becoming worse or the treatment having to be more aggressive (and painful). There could also be an instance where the patient was advised to undergo treatment that was not beneficial to their form of cancer, causing adverse side effects unnecessarily.

If the delay in beginning cancer treatment is caused because a medical professional failed to spot the cancer, thought it was something else or failed to send you for tests with a specialist, then our panel of medical negligence negligence solicitor could help with a cancer claim for your additional avoidable suffering.

Dental Treatment Or Implant Negligence

A dentist and other staff within a dental surgery have a duty of care to ensure patients remain safe and well while undergoing treatment.  This means that the correct dental procedures should be followed whenever possible, equipment is fit for purpose and well maintained, and hygiene standards are maintained.

In cases where a dentist, hygienist or dental nurse cause a patient to suffer because they’ve not followed the steps outlined above, it may be possible to seek compensation.

This could be the case if:

  • You suffered injuries to healthy teeth or gums during a dental procedure (including dental implant negligence).
  • The surgery or treatment you underwent wasn’t required because of a misdiagnosis.
  • You suffered excessive pain during treatment due to an anaesthetic error.

Clinical Negligence By A GP

In many cases, a GP manages to identify the cause of a medical problem, provide a treatment or send the patient to a specialist for extra tests within the first appointment.  This is a great service and means NHS patients are put on the road to recovery in as short a time as possible.

However, there are times where a GP does not perform the duties expected by their code of conduct and could cause a patient to suffer an avoidable illness or injury which would not have occurred had the correct treatment been administered.

If a GP causes a delay in treatment, because of any of the following and the patient’s symptoms worsen or the delay leads to additional suffering, a claim for clinical negligence might be possible.

  • The GP fails to spot a condition at all;
  • They misdiagnose a condition as something else; or
  • The wrong medicine is prescribed and causes adverse medical effects for the patient.
  • The GP fails to refer to the correct specialist causing the patient to suffer for a longer period of time.

Data And Statistics For Rates Of Clinical Negligence At Cornish NHS Trusts

Below, we have provided a table that shows the number of claims made against NHS service providers in the Cornwall area and how much compensation was paid out.

Healthcare ProviderClaims in 2017/2018Number of Incidents 2017/2018CNST Damages
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust457£4,296,547
Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust60£31,746

The data in our table was obtained from this NHS report for the 2017-18 period.

Clinical Negligence No Win No Fee Agreements

Some people worry about the cost of hiring a medical negligence lawyer to take on their claim.  This is why many clinical negligence firms offer a no win no fee service.  Our panel of expert medical negligence solicitors all offer no win no fee for any claim they decide to help with.

Using a no win no fee agreement means:

  • You don’t have to pay anything before the case can begin.
  • There is no bill at the end of the claim if the solicitor failed to win compensation on your behalf.
  • You won’t need to find the funds to pay the solicitor if they win because their success fee is automatically deducted from the compensation payment.

Success fees are limited, under UK law, to 25% of any compensation.

Hospitals And Clinical Services In Cornwall

For your information, we’ve listed some of the main hospitals in the Cornwall region including the Bodmin, Falmouth and Bude areas below:

  • Royal Cornwall Hospital.
  • Bodmin Community Hospital.
  • West Cornwall Hospital.
  • St Michael Hospital.
  • Duchy Hospital.

Our panel of medical negligence solicitors can cover the Cornwall area so may be able to assist you with a personal injury claim for medical negligence against any of these hospitals or private hospitals,  as well as doctor’s surgeries, dental practices and care homes.  Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss whether you could make a claim or not.

Talk To Our Team

If you’d like to discuss how we could help you make a Cornwall medical negligence claim, then please get in touch today.  We can be contacted on 0800 652 3087 and are available 7 days a week. If you would rather we call you at a convenient time, then please complete this online form.

Helpful Links

Now that you’ve read this guide, we hope you know a lot more about choosing between medical negligence solicitors in Cornwall or others from elsewhere in the UK.  To help you further, we’ve linked to some more useful guides and external resources below.

Royal Cornwall Hospital
Treliske,
Truro, TR1 3LQ
Web:www.royalcornwall.nhs.uk

Inspection Report – In 3 sections the Royal Cornwall Hospital was rated good by the Care Quality Commission, but the overall rating was ‘Requires Improvement’

Care Homes and Services – Information from the NHS about care homes and associated services.

Misdiagnosis Claims – Information on how to make a clinical negligence claim for a failure to diagnose which caused you to suffer.

NHS Negligence Claims – A guide which provides examples of clinical negligence cases which could lead to claims for negligence against the NHS.

 

Edited by Charlotte