St Albans Medical Negligence Solicitors - No Win No Fee Lawyers Claims Guide

Medical negligence St Albans

Have you been harmed due to clinical negligence on the part of a medical practitioner in either the NHS or by a private healthcare service? Are you searching for medical negligence solicitors in St Albans? If so, in this guide we show how our nationwide panel of expert medical negligence solicitors could help you to claim compensation for a wide variety of different types of medical negligence.

Before we look at how to choose the right solicitor for your claim and the different instances of clinical negligence for which you could be able to claim for, we should begin by defining what we mean by clinical or medical negligence.

What is medical negligence?

In guides such as this article, we may use terms such as ‘clinical negligence‘, ‘medical negligence‘, and ‘malpractice‘ synonymously. Clinical negligence definitions will generally say that it is when care by a medical practitioner does not meet the expected standards and where the patient has been harmed as a direct result of this.

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How To Find Solicitors Who Can Conduct Medical Negligence Claims In St Albans

Personal injury claims for instances of negligence or malpractice may be complex. This complexity may not be related to the value of the claim but rather the medical circumstances which surround the cause of harm. Even claims which may be more modest in value may still be medically complicated. As such, it is recommended that you do find the best possible medical negligence solicitor to carry out your claim. As the claim will likely involve specialist medical terminology and some knowledge, it could help your claim to use a specialist solicitor. Some factors which you may wish to consider when finding a solicitor are;

The solicitors’ experience and expertise in conducting similar types of claim.
What experience they have in conducting medical claims in general? Do they specialise in this type of claim?
How will they communicate with you and are you comfortable with these methods?
Can you read testimonials from previous clients?

We shall look at some of these points to consider when choosing a personal injury solicitor in the following sections.

Is It Important To Use Solicitors Near Me?

Today most forms of litigation can be carried out remotely without the need for a client and solicitor to meet in person. There are many ways in which you can keep in touch with a solicitor and electronic means of information are becoming much more commonly used. This means that whilst your claim may be made against a healthcare service in your area, you do not need to go so through solicitors in St Albans. It is much more important to the outcome of your claim that your solicitor is properly qualified and experienced in handling medical claims cases than their being close to you.

Remember, do not limit yourself to using medical negligence solicitors in St Albans.

Should I Read Reviews Of Solicitors Before Choosing A Solicitor?

When looking to find a solicitor it may be helpful to research testimonials and recommendations which have been made by previous clients for different solicitors. There are many websites where people are able to rate and review professional services such as solicitors.

Recommendations can be an important way to make you more comfortable with agreeing to make a claim with a particular solicitor. Try not to be swayed by eye-catching marketing but rather look at their record of being able to successfully help people in similar situations.

Different Types Of Clinical Negligence Which Could Be Claimed For

Once you find a solicitor who you are comfortable working with, you need to make sure they can handle your type of claim. Medical malpractice has a wide definition, in that there may be many different ways in which it could be caused and types of harm which could result from said causes.

Below are examples of different types of medical negligence;

Errors related to medication and prescriptions which cause illness.
Those related to the misdiagnosis of an illness allowing the condition to worsen.
Dental negligence, extraction of wrong tooth.
Errors or negligence during surgery causing harm.

Later in this article we provide more information on examples of medical neglect which our panel of expert medical negligence solicitors could conduct.

Our Panel Of Medical Experts Could Carry Out An Assessment Close To You

Whilst travelling to meet a solicitor in person is not a necessary part of the claims process, having a medical exam could play an important role in the success of your case. We understand that having to travel a long way could be either difficult or not possible for those affected by negligent treatment. To make this part of the process easier for you, we have a panel of medical experts and doctors covering this part of Hertfordshire. Our panel includes,

Afolake Oyinloye
The Albany Centre,
4 Victoria Street,
St Albans
AL1 3JD

Sanjay Lakhani
The Elms Consulting Rooms,
24 Hall Place Gardens,
St Albans,
AL1 3SF

Sumeet Vohra
2 Fountain Court,
Victoria Square,
St Albans,
AL1 3TF

Your assessment may be carried out by these or other experts in this area.

Hospital Malpractice And Misdiagnosis

Hospitals can be under pressure to provide a wide range of services to people from a large geographic area. In almost all occasions negligence is not deliberate and those who are caring for us do not set out to cause harm but if it happens it can be upsetting and sometimes devastating to patients. Instances of negligence could include,

Patients being infected with hospital-acquired infections.
The provision of the wrong care or wrong medication causing illness.
Errors during surgical procedures causing harm.
Delays, misdiagnosed conditions, and cancellations of treatments allowing the condition to worsen

If you are concerned about medical treatment received at a hospital, please read our extended guide to hospital negligence claims.

Surgical Malpractice Or Errors

Whilst there are risks in any form of surgery, even in routine procedures, you should be clearly advised of foreseeable risks prior to the operation. In addition to this, if a member of the surgical team acts in a negligent way, you could be further harmed. Examples of surgical negligence may include;

Additional injuries (such as perforations) are caused by the surgeon.
Medical instruments that are left inside a patient.
Wrong limb amputation or wrong site surgery.
Errors are made in dosages of anaesthetic causing necessary pain.

If you are unsure as to whether the harm or illness you suffered during surgery or just after was caused by negligence call our specialist team to have your case assessed.

Negligence During Pregnancy And Births

This type of negligence could include harm which has been caused to either the mother, or to the baby or to both. The harm for which you are claiming may have happened during prenatal care, during the birth of the child, or during postnatal care. Below are examples of if negligence happens during pregnancy or labour what devastating effects this could have;

Palsy’s such as Erb’s Palsy or Cerebral Palsy. In instances of Erb’s Palsy the babies neck, nerves, shoulders, arms and hands may be damaged. Instances of Cerebral Palsy may be caused by the deprivation of oxygen during the birth process.
Injuries to the mother. Such injuries may include vaginal tears, infections, mismanagement of pre-eclampsia and/or ruptures to the placenta.

There could be potentially other ways in which mothers and babies could be harmed due to negligence around the delivery of a child.

GP’s Malpractice Or Negligence

GP’s are the first people we often see when we are feeling under the weather. GP’s are the ones who either diagnose a patient, treat them and provide them with medication. Sometimes GP’s need to transfer patients to specialists or to have diagnostic testing done if more clarification is needed or specialists treatment is needed. Failure to do the above may mean a patient suffers unnecessarily. Examples of GP negligence could include;

Conditions being misdiagnosed allowing the condition to worsen.
Prescription mistakes or errors being made causing illness.
A doctor not correctly carrying out an examination or organising the right tests which are needed and the patients conditions deteriorates.
Failures caused by or subsequent to the above where specialist referrals are not made and again patients conditions deteriorates.
Not acting on the information provided by another doctor causing the condition to worsen.
Carrying out procedures or processes which are not appropriate, or for which the doctor is unqualified causing harm

Nursing Home Negligence And Neglect

Our panel of medical negligence solicitors covering the St Albans area can help in instances where care homes or nursing homes provided poor standards of care, and where people were harmed as a result. The result could have been physical or mental harm. Examples of care home negligence may include;

Harm was caused due to insufficient or incorrect equipment, training or care.
Patients who are not being provided with the right aids to walk or otherwise move about.
Abuse, battery and neglect.
Not administering medication allowing the patient to become ill.
Errors in prescriptions causing illness.

Late Or Incorrect Diagnosis Of Cancer

There are over two hundred different types of cancers and having a NHS system that caters for them is incredible. Being diagnosed with cancer at the earliest possible point is vital to prevent the illness from spreading. If your case of cancer was not diagnosed at the right time, was misdiagnosed or there were otherwise delays to the treatment of your condition and if such misdiagnosis or delays caused you harm, you could have grounds to make a personal injury claim.

Dental Misdiagnosis And Negligence

Dental negligence could cause you injury or pain. It may lead to an illness or involve traumatic circumstances. Incidents could include a dentist extracting the wrong tooth, or errors may have caused damage to nerves in your mouth. You could even have suffered harm to the jaw bone

If you have been affected by dental negligence in any way, we have a more detailed guide to making a claim here.

St Albans And West Hertfordshire Hospitals Medical Negligence Statistics

In this table you can find data for the number of injury claims which have been made against NHS trusts providing medical services to the residents of St Albans as well as surrounding towns and villages. It also contains information on how many incidents were reported in the same period and the value of payments which have been made by these trusts in the same accounting period.

NHS Trust Or Relevant Healthcare Authority	No. of claims recieved	No. of reported incidents	CNST Damages Paid
West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust	42	7	23,157,197
East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust	47	11	13,697,201
Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust	*	6	94,957
Hertfordshire Community Services NHS Trust	*	0	71,433

This information is collected each year by NHS Resolution and published for the public to see. NHS Resolution helps the NHS to resolve patients concerns. You can view data related to reported instances of medical negligence in your area here.

No Win No Fee Clinical Malpractice Claims

Do no win no fee (or conditional fee agreements) apply to cases of medical negligence? When you contact our panel of experts they will be able to start assessing how strong your claim and case is. If they feel that you have strong grounds to make a claim it is very likely that they could offer you a no win no fee agreement. In fact, the vast majority of cases handled by our expert panel are done so in this way.

No win no fee claims do not require any payments to be launched and do not require ongoing payments through the claims process. In fact, you will only need to pay your no win no fee solicitor once your claim is complete you receive a settlement.

West Hertfordshire Hospitals

As a smaller ‘cathedral’ city, St Albans does not have any large-scale hospitals in the city or district itself. In addition to the smaller hospitals and medical facilities in St Albans hospital services are provided at several other local hospitals.

NHS Hospitals

St Albans City Hospital
Watford General Hospital
Hemel Hempstead Hospital

Private Hospitals

Spire Harpenden Hospital
Hertfordshire Clinic
Pinehill Hospital

Our team of experts could help you to claim compensation for negligent harm caused at any of these facilities or others in the area.

Contact Us To Start Your Claim

If you were harmed due to negligent care provided through the NHS or by a private healthcare company you could have grounds to claim compensation from the responsible party. To start the process of making a claim, contact the experts today. You can contact Medical Negligence Assist in any of the following ways:

Talk to our experts over the phone by dialing 0800 652 3087.
Click here to start your claim online.
Use the online contact form on this page to request a call back.

Our expert panel of personal injury lawyers and solicitors could help claimants in the St Albans area and are on hand to help you.

Additional Guides And Advice

You can find out more about how a medical negligence lawyer could help you as well as how to make an official complaint if you have been misdiagnosed or were harmed by malpractice in the resources below.

The Care Quality Commission
The CQC is the independent body which regulates and monitors the provision of health and social care across England.

Personal Injury Compensation Calculator
In this article you can see examples of how much personal injury solicitors could help victims of medical negligence to claim.

Medical Negligence Claims
In this guide you can learn more about the process of claiming compensation with a medical negligence lawyer or solicitor.

St Albans Medical Negligence Solicitors – No Win No Fee Lawyers Claims Guide