If you were left seriously ill or a loved one has died of Covid-19 in a care home, you may be entitled to claim compensation, as long as you can show that someone else’s negligence was to blame. To prove negligence you must show the person responsible owed you a duty of care, that they breached this duty of care and that you or your loved one suffered injury as a result.
The coronavirus pandemic has spawned many ‘new normals’ – not least a marked increase in the use of virtual GP services, with more and more people seeking a diagnosis over the phone or via a virtual GP application.
The family of a woman who died after being seriously injured during reconstructive cancer surgery has been awarded more than £100,000. Some patients who had maxillofacial surgery at Leicester Royal Infirmary between 2009 and 2016 have since had problems eating and talking. Margaret Burrell, 76, from Ratby, who died in 2019, was deemed…
A woman whose endometriosis went undiagnosed for 17 years has received £500,000 compensation. Frances Bell was 14 when she first went to hospital with symptoms in 1997 but was told she had irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). She eventually received a diagnosis in 2014 but by then she was infertile and needed extensive surgery. Nottingham University…
A boy left brain damaged after his delivery was delayed by two emergencies at a hospital will receive £26m in compensation. The High Court heard the child’s mother came “second on the list” for urgent attention while she was in labour at St John’s Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex. The court was told a crisis took…
The NHS in England faces paying out £4.3bn in legal fees to settle outstanding claims of clinical negligence, the BBC has learned through a Freedom of Information request. Each year the NHS receives more than 10,000 new claims for compensation. This figure includes all current unsettled claims and projected estimates of ones in the future.…
Taxpayers are being hit by rising bills for NHS clinical negligence claims, the Welsh Conservatives have claimed. The party says it is “alarming and shocking” that total payouts by the seven Welsh boards have risen by 43% in four years to over £90m in 2017-18. Tory health spokeswoman Angela Burns has called for an inquiry,…
Dr David Bailey, who chairs the British Medical Association in Wales, has welcomed a Welsh Government promise to GPs to meet the cost of insurance to cover clinical negligence claims. Hospital doctors are already covered for clinical negligence indemnity, and a deal had already been struck by UK ministers for GPs in England. Health Secretary…
A hospital’s negligence in diagnosing sepsis quickly enough led to the “preventable death” of a patient, a coroner has said. Paul Wilkinson, 45, was admitted to Blackpool Victoria Hospital in Lancashire with severe stomach pains. The father of three died from multiple organ failure and sepsis five days after being admitted last May. The hospital…
Health leaders have written to Justice Secretary David Gauke urging him to reform the payout system for negligence claims against the NHS in England. They say costs are spiralling, “unsustainable” and diverting vast amounts from frontline care. The NHS Confederation, the British Medical Association and medical lawyers are among the signatories. The Ministry of Justice…
