When a patient enters hospital to have surgery, they expect to leave in a healthier state. However, this is not always the case. Errors and accidents can occur during surgery, with their impacts having detrimental effects on an individual’s life. If you have suffered an injury due to a surgical mistake, it is important to propose a surgery error claim and receive negligence compensation for your suffering.

If you have been left with an injury following surgery, you may be wondering, “can you sue of surgery goes wrong?”

A compensation claim can be made if you can prove that you suffered an injury due to someone else’s negligence; therefore, if you can prove that your suffering could have been avoided, you may be able to make a claim.

 

Types of surgical injuries that can take place

 

Medical professionals are required to uphold a very high standard of care, especially when performing surgical procedures. If this standard is not upheld, mistakes such as performing the incorrect surgery, using defective implants, making an error with anaesthetic, performing unnecessary surgery, or operating on the wrong area can take place.

If one of these errors occurs, these are some of the injuries that may be caused:

– Organ damage – Nerve damage – Infection post-surgery caused by poor aftercare

– Foreign objects left in the body during surgical procedures

 

Can you sue if surgery goes wrong? Why should I make a claim?

 

A claim should be brought if you have been victim to surgical negligence. Patients place a large amount of trust in medical professionals and a claim should be proposed if a professional has exploited this trust.

An injury caused by medical negligence can devastate an individual’s life, we think it is vital that this not a permanent devastation. Instead, we believe that the law should be utilized to seek justice.

Also, it is important to ensure that incapable medical professionals are not given the opportunity to cause the same injuries to more people.

Although compensation will not make your injuries go away, it can help you to fund any medical care, assistance, or adjustments to your life required as the result of your injuries.

 

What should you do prior to commencing a surgical negligence claim?

 

If you wish to commence a surgical negligence claim, it is vital that you seek legal advice from a medical negligence solicitor.

Alongside this, it is imperative to seek evidence which will prove that the injury has originated from the negligence. Useful evidence may be x-rays or photographs of the injury, we may be able to request these from your GP or hospital attended.

If you have been forced to suffer financial loss in the aftermath of the injury, you should begin to gather bank statements or receipts of medical fees which can be examined when allocating special damages.

 

Can you sue if surgery goes wrong? The claim process?

 

Once you have sought legal advice and a solicitor has agreed that you should proceed, the relevant medical records will need to be requested.

Subsequent to this, a letter will be sent to the NHS Litigation Authority. They will have four months to respond to this communication. Therefore, you should not be required to attend Court within the first four months of the claim.

Following their response, negotiations will commence. A large proportion of matters settle during negotiations and prior to Court proceedings.

If the matter does not settle during negotiations, it will then proceed to Court for a hearing.

 

Time limits in surgery injury claims

 

Time limits in surgical negligence claims are not definitive as the Court has to take a case-by-case view in certain situations and may allow for extensions. Although, the general rule is that the claimant has three years to conclude the claim or have started proceedings from the date that the injury occurred or the date of the realisation of the injuries.

If you are under eighteen, this limit does not apply. However, the three-year limit would commence from the date of the individuals eighteenth birthday.

Furthermore, this limit does not apply to people who lack the mental capacity to complete a claim for themselves.

 

Can you sue if surgery goes wrong? Compensation amounts

 

Compensation for surgical errors are divided into General Damages and Special Damages.

General Damages – These damages are compensation for the injury itself. When considering the appropriate figure for these damages, the severity of the injury will be assessed as the worse the negligence, the higher the compensation. In cases where an individual has been left disabled or disfigured, general damages will compensate for these injuries.

Special Damages – Financial losses will be covered by special damages. These damages include loss of earnings, loss of future earnings and loss of self-employed injuries. The aim of special damages is to return a claimant to the financial situation they were in prior to the accident, so this figure will vary depending on the amount of loss.

In matters where the defendant admits liability for the negligence, you may be able to seek an interim payment. This will provide a portion of the compensation prior to the settlement of the claim and will be useful to provide financial aid for living costs and medical fees.

If you have required aid from a family member or friend, you may be able to seek additional compensation for costs that they have incurred during the time that they have been providing care.

 

How much do surgical negligence claims cost?

 

We operate surgical negligence claims on a Conditional Fee Agreement. This is also known as a ‘no win, no fee’ agreement.

If you do not win your claim, we will not take any payment. In matters where we are successful, we will take a small success fee to cover our costs. This figure will always be pre-agreed, and we are happy to answer any questions about our fees at any time.

 

How can Wildwood Legal assist with surgical error claims?

 

From our extensive work in medical negligence cases, we have witnessed at first-hand the terrible consequences that surgery errors can have on an individual’s life. Alongside the pain of the injury, the financial losses suffered can have devastating effects.

We believe that individuals should be given the opportunity to regain control of their lives and take hold of their future. Compensation can facilitate this.

Our team has an excellent success rate in winning cases and achieving the deserved compensation for our clients. We keep our goal of compensation central in our work, this encourages the team to consistently strive for success.

Our regulation from the Solicitors Regulation Authority highlights our reputability. The regulation authority insists on honesty and integrity, two characteristics which our key within our firm.

If you have found this information helpful and would like to get in touch about a surgical error claim, please contact us on 0113 320 5000. Alternatively, please email us at info@winstonsolicitors.co.uk where a member of the team can provide you with advice on how to proceed with a medical negligence claim.