Sepsis Claims

Sepsis is the body’s overreaction to an infection which can be fatal. Sepsis is a bigger killer than bowel, pancreatic and breast cancer put together in the UK, it accounts for 1 in 5 deaths in hospitals. Sepsis is also known as septicaemia, and can be brought on by meningitis, appendicitis, peritonitis, or any post-surgical infection. It is vital that sepsis is treated quickly, as failure to diagnose or treat can result in death. Delays and misdiagnoses do happen and if you think that this could have happened to you, contact us today and our expert team of solicitors will be able to guide you through the process.

Sepsis is non discriminant and can happen to anyone, however there are groups who are particularly vulnerable; pregnant women, the very young and very old. 

All medical professionals are under a duty of care, and if you can prove that there has been a breach in this duty of care, which has resulted in the contraction of sepsis, then negligence has occurred.

A sepsis claim like all medical negligence claim awards compensation for:

Pain;
Suffering;
Loss of income;
And expenses, if any.
It is also important to note that there are three elements to medical negligence compensation awards. These are:

General damages;
Special damages for past losses;
And special damages for future losses.
General damages are awarded compensation for the injury itself, the pain and suffering experienced by the individual and the inability to live and enjoy life as they used to before the negligence occurred.

Special damages are awarded compensation for financial losses that the affected individual has incurred as a result of the negligence.

Yes, a family member can make a claim on behalf of the deceased.

If negligence can be proved, and you are a surviving spouse, civil partner or a parent who has lost their child (up to 18 years old) you will be eligible to claim a bereavement award through the deceased’s estate.

The deceased’s estate is also entitled to claim compensation for any pain and suffering experienced by the deceased that was caused by the medical negligence.

Finally, a dependency claim can also be made. The purpose is to ensure that the family is not financially worse off following the death. This often applies if the deceased was earning and supporting the family when they passed away as a result of medical negligence.

This will depend on your case. If a GP has made an error, the claim will either be handled by the GP’s professional indemnity provider or NHS resolution. If the error was made in a hospital, all NHS hospitals are represented by an NHS Trust so it is the trust who will be the defendant to any claim where a breach of duty of care occurred, rather than any individual. 

NHS Resolution usually represents the NHS if you make a claim against any medical professional who works for the NHS. Fewer than 2% of cases handled by NHS Resolution end up in court. The rest are settled or dropped by the claimant.

If you believe that a loved one has passed away owing to negligent care they received, you may have a claim and you can claim on their behalf. Any medical negligence case has a time limit of 3 years from the time the negligence occurred or from when you were aware that something has gone wrong. 

This really depends on every case, and depends on the complexity, usually this can be between 1-5 years, but this can vary and be longer or shorter.