Medical Negligence occurs when a health care provider provides treatment to a patient which deviates from the accepted standards of care in the medical community. These claims are also known as claims for medical malpractice or claims for clinical negligence. A claim for medical negligence usually arises where that failure on behalf of the health care provider results in the patient suffering injury, loss or death.

Medical Negligence is a very complex area of law and in order to establish a case in medical negligence against either a medical practitioner, or a hospital involved in diagnosis or treatment, it must firstly be proven that no reasonably competent medical practitioner of equal status and skill faced with the same set of circumstances would have acted in the same manner. Therefore if a body of medical opinion can show that it would have acted in the same way as the practitioner/hospital responsible for the treatment, then there is no case to be made in medical negligence unless one can prove that such practice was inherently defective.

Secondly “causation” has to be proven. It has to be established that on the balance of probabilities that the treatment which is alleged to have been negligent or substandard, materially contributed to the Plaintiff’s injury. The Plaintiff has to be in position to establish that but for the error on the part of the doctor/hospital the injury would have been avoided.

*In contentious business a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.

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