For any medical negligence claim to succeed, there must be negligence or a breach of a duty of care. It can sometimes be difficult to judge when the line into negligence has been crossed, or if the treatment you have received is just of a poor standard.  

 

Negligence is, broadly speaking, governed by two cases, the first of which is Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee. This case gave rise to the “Bolam Test”, which states that if a large proportion of doctors believe the treatment reasonable, it was not negligent. 

 

The second test, from Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board, sets the standard for medical Consent. Before agreeing to any course of treatment or procedure patients should be told “what they want to know, no what the practitioner thinks they ought to know”. 

 

Often, breaches in the form of defective equipment negligence can only truly be judged following a review of medical records. This is a service that MG Legal’s expert medical negligence solicitors will carry out for you on a no win, no fee basis. If you think your treatment was either negligent, or you weren’t cautioned about the risks, get in touch and we will carry out an assessment of your case without your having to pay monies up front. 

MG Legal were recently approached by a new client Mr E, who was badly burnt during surgery when the motorised cutting tool that was being used by the surgeon leaked causing hot coolant to drip onto Mr E’s armpit and upper arm, causing suffered significant burns to the upper arm, which had resulted in scarring. At no time during the procedure did any of the staff in the room notice the malfunctioning machinery, and investigations proved that the machine had also not been tested by surgical room technologists, prior to Mr E’s operation being commenced. 

 

After being contacted by Mr E, MG Legal’s medical negligence solicitors were able to advise him, immediately, that we would accept his claim for medical negligence compensation, on a No Win No Fee basis. This same day, we wrote to the hospital in question, and requested Mr E’s medical notes. The aim was to see what exactly had gone wrong during Mr E’s operation, and who was to blame. 

 

Upon receipt of his medical notes, the negligence caused Mr E to be injured was obvious, and the surgeon had made notes detailing the faulty medical equipment, even going as far as saying that a similar incident had happened, some months prior to Mr E’s surgery. This was more than enough information for our medical negligence experts to write a formal letter of claim to the local NHS Trust. Knowing that Mr E had a very strong medical negligence claim for compensation, our medical negligence solicitors instructed our own constructive plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgeon, to prepare a medical report, detailing the injuries Mr E had sustained, and giving a prognosis as to when Mr E would recover from his injuries, if at all. 

 

Upon receipt of the plastic surgeon’s report, we noted that Mr E’s injuries, would never fully recover, so we used all the tools available to us, and advised Mr E what we thought he should receive in damages for his medical negligence compensation award. 

 

Everything was taken into consideration- lost earnings, medical expenses, travel expenses, and even the cost of a lost holiday that Mr E and has family were unable to go on, due to Mr E’s injuries.  In response to this, an offer was formulated by the hospital at fault, which Mr E was more than happy with, and we sent our offer of settlement to the Trust. Upon the expiry of the permitted investigation period, the Trust had still not concluded their enquiries, and so Mr E’s offer was sent, confirming that the offer would lapse in 14 days, with legal proceedings to be served immediately after.