What is medical negligence
Medical Negligence what is it? Almost everybody visits the doctor at one point in their life. Medical professionals have a duty of care to ensure that they provide the appropriate standard of care and treatment. What happens when something goes wrong and you suffer a negative outcome?
A case of medical negligence, or medical malpractice occurs is when treatment falls below an acceptable standard accepted by the Australian medical community. If you suffer an injury as a result of the negligent medical treatment provided, you may be eligible for a medical negligence claim.
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Some examples of medical negligence include:
- Misdiagnosis or delay in diagnosis causing adverse outcome
- Surgical errors or unnecessary surgery
- Defective medical products
- Medication errors or dosage errors
- Injuries sustained during birth
- Failure to follow standard procedures when something goes wrong
- Issues with informed consent
- Failure to investigate or refer to specialist
- Errors in administering anaesthesia
- Not taking appropriate patient history
Who You Can Claim Against
A medical negligence or medical malpractice claim can be brought against medical professionals which includes doctors, surgeons, nurses, midwives, dentists, pharmacists or radiologists. You can also bring a claim against the hospital or medical institution that has provided treatment.
Medical professionals are required to be covered by professional indemnity insurance to cover such claims.
How to claim for medical negligence
The law has deemed that medical professionals owe patients a duty of care. It must be shown that the standard of care falls short of what are the standards of the Australian medical community.
It must also be shown that the medical professional’s actions or omissions caused you to suffer physical or psychological harm, and that this was a reasonably foreseeable outcome. The harm of injury caused must be shown to be due to the negligent treatment provided.
In NSW, you must lodge your claim 3 years from the date of injury or when the cause of action is discoverable.
What you can claim
The most common compensation is paid out in a lump sum. You may have suffered physical or psychological harm which has caused you loss of income, pain and suffering, additional out of pocket expenses and the cost of care and assistance provided to you. It is best to seek our legal advice at Alliance Compensation and Litigation Lawyers about your rights and entitlements because every case is unique.
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