What are the most common types of clinical negligence claims?

Every year in the UK, millions of men, women and children put their lives in the hands of the medical professionals, whether through the NHS or other private groups. Clinical negligence claims are the compensation patients can claim for when they believe their medical practitioner (from doctors and surgeons to nurses and dentists) has made a mistake. But what are the most common kinds of clinical negligence?

One of the most common types of clinical negligence claims are those which are related to birth defects. For example, should a doctor, nurse or mid-wife make a mistake before or during the birth (e.g. misdiagnosis or the wrong administration of drugs) then the mother and child can claim for compensation. However, due to the nature of birth defects, sometimes it take months or years to realise a defect has occurred.

Another type of medical negligence claim is battery, which is claimed when a patient is given surgery without their prior consent. Hospital negligence covers a wide range of mistakes but generally they relate to when a mistake has lead to further injury or treatment that could have been preventable.

Negligence on the NHS is quite a broad type of claim because it can relate to any service carried by the NHS and its extensions including, for example, the ambulance service. Sterilisation failure and failed abortions are another common type of negligence claim filed when the sterilisation or abortion was not carried out correctly, leading to the birth of an unplanned child.

Dental negligence is perhaps a little more self explanatory, but again this can relate to a number of mistakes carried out by a dental professional including the removal of the wrong, healthy tooth. And finally, there are negligent medical advice claims and medical diagnosis claims. The advice claims can be made when a patient doesn’t feel as though they were given the right or comprehensive advice, such as about the risks of an operation, whilst diagnosis claims can be made when someone was misdiagnosed leading to further injury or stress.

For help with clinical negligence claims, look no further.