The majority of medical interventions in the UK come off without a hitch. A patient will have their disorder correctly diagnosed, and an effective treatment will be forthcoming. In a minority of cases, however, this doesn’t happen – and a minority of that minority amount to medical negligence.
What is medical negligence?
Medical practitioners in the UK owe what’s called a duty of care to their patients. They need to provide a standard of care that’s equivalent to that which would be provided by any competent member of their profession. If they fail to do this, and the patient suffers harm as a result, then they may be guilty of medical, or clinical, negligence.
Patients in this position are often entitled to compensation, which can be extracted through the courts by a no-win, no-fee solicitor.
Common examples of medical negligence include:
Misdiagnosis
If a doctor misdiagnoses you, then you are vulnerable in two ways. First, you’ll be given the wrong treatment, which means that you’ll suffer side effects for a treatment that won’t be tackling your disease. Second, you won’t be getting the treatment that you actually need. A misdiagnosis can actually delay effective treatment more than no diagnosis at all, which in the case of some disorders (like cancers) can be disastrous.
Premature Hospital Discharge
In most cases, hospitals will look to release patients only when there’s no risk of them developing further problems. If they ask for you to be kept overnight for monitoring, then it’s usually a precautionary measure designed to ensure that any treatment has been effective and that your symptoms aren’t going to recur.
If you are discharged prematurely, then this observation cannot take place, and you can’t receive fast treatment in the event of something going wrong. If you are discharged earlier than any competent member of the medical profession would discharge you, then you may be at increased risk.
Medicinal Prescription Error
This is similar in consequence to a misdiagnosis. However, in some cases, a prescription error can be much more serious. You might find that you’re denied access to the medicine that you really need, and you’re given drugs that might inflict serious harm. This applies especially if the dosages are different.
Surgical Error
It probably won’t provide much reassurance to those about to go under the knife, but surgeons are capable of error, too. They can leave foreign objects inside patients; they can make incisions where they aren’t supposed to; they can even perform the wrong procedure entirely.
Effective surgery is about collaboration between everyone in the operating theatre, and with the broader medical institution, too. When it’s performed badly, the consequences for the patient can be serious. On top of everything else, you’ll normally have to go back in to have the problem corrected – which, alone, might amount to medical negligence.
