What is medical negligence?
Medical negligence occurs when a medical professional, such as a doctor, fails to deliver a reasonable standard of care. For instance, they make an error that could have been prevented with further care or skill. This can often lead to further injury or deterioration of the existing condition, which can mean serious and even life-threatening repercussions for a patient.
What is a delay in diagnosis?
Although there are many types of medical negligence claims, many are often due to delays in medical diagnosis. A delay in diagnosis refers to when an illness, injury or medical condition is not picked up in time and is only identified at a later stage. Often, this can mean that the issue becomes worse, has caused separate health complications, can no longer be effectively treated, or, in some instances, sadly causes death.
Delayed diagnosis and treatment claims are common in all sections of the NHS, and establishing whether such a delay is negligent is often relatively simple. However, pinpointing the exact damages caused by this negligence can sometimes be more complicated.
Examples of delayed diagnosis claims:
Standard delays in waiting times where waiting lists to see specialists are long are not usually pursued for such claims. Instead, successful claims may involve an instance where:
- A GP did not notice a feature or correctly diagnose a condition, which resulted in an avoidable injury. For instance, a cancerous growth was not picked up in the lung, which resulted in the cancer spreading to the brain, causing additional severe problems.
- A delay in treatment due to errors made by medical professionals such as processing, administration or scheduling errors.
- A delay in surgery or treatment due to an incorrect evaluation of the severity of a condition, which would have typically meant expedited treatment.
One well-known example of medical negligence involving a delayed diagnosis is the Sibaweih v Bedford case. Miss Sibaweih slipped on a wet pavement and visited her GP. The negligent examination of her knee and failure to take an x-ray meant a knee fracture was misdiagnosed as a bruise. Damages were awarded to Miss Sibaweih for the additional duration of pain that would have been avoided if a timely diagnosis and referral had occurred.
Determining a medical negligence claim
To determine whether a claim is legally negligent, there must first be a determination of whether the duty of care received by the individual falls below the reasonable standard of care and that no competent healthcare worker would have made this same error.
Not all mistakes reach the legal threshold for medical negligence. For instance, a doctor who acts in accordance with a reasonable body of medical opinion skilled in that form of treatment is not negligent. This is the case even if an alternate body of medical opinion would have acted differently.
Pursuing a medical negligence case
Medical negligence can be pursued on behalf of yourself or a loved one. However, typically (some exceptions apply), a medical negligence claim of this nature should be initiated within 3 years of having or realising that the treatment you have received was negligent. Therefore, it is important to seek a legal consultation as soon as possible. Our solicitors are happy to assist you in making any medical negligence claim you may have.
