Medical Negligence Solicitor - Personal Injury Compensation Claims Ireland

A medical negligence compensation claim solicitor deals with applications for damages against healthcare professionals for personal injury and loss caused as a result of erroneous clinical treatment or diagnosis. All categories of healthcare professionals can be sued for medical negligence compensation including consultants, specialists, doctors, dentists, midwives, nurses, pharmacists, psychiatrists, psychologists and all manner of technical staff practicing in many fields of medicine including surgery, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, radiology, physiotherapy, oncology, dermatology, psychology and psychiatry. Many of these professional people will be personally insured against medical negligence compensation claims and those who are not will be indemnified by the insurance policy that covers their employer. Any legal action that a potential claimant takes against a healthcare professional for a financial award for personal injury and loss caused by medical negligence will not come out of the pocket of the negligent professional but will be paid by their insurers. Medical negligence insurance companies have a reputation for fully defending all but the most obvious cases and it is to your advantage, in order to preserve your legal right to compensation, to make contact with a medical negligence solicitor as soon as possible after the event that caused the injury.

Qualified Legal Advice

Our specialist medical negligence solicitors offer free impartial advice on clinical compensation claims without legal jargon and without further obligation. We will listen to you and will take a detailed statement from you over the telephone. We will give you our views, there and then on the potential for a medical negligence compensation claim. We will advise on civil liability and will attempt to give you an accurate estimate of the compensation award that you might expect to receive - current average settlements exceed € 60,000. We will initially contact the insurers of the healthcare professional involved in an attempt to negotiate settlement without recourse to a court of law however if the insurance company denies liability on behalf of the healthcare provider or if they admit liability but are tardy in settlement we will not hesitate to pursue the matter through the courts in Ireland. We generally pay compensation in full without deductions and most of our clients pay nothing to pursue their case. Contact us today for free advice on medical negligence compensation claims without further obligation. If after speaking to us you decide not to take matters further then that is your right and we will not thereafter pursue you to proceed. Our advice is completely confidential and we do not disclose any of your details to any third party. Do yourself justice – contact us today.

Law of Negligence

Medical negligence law is a branch of the general law of negligence normally used in non-clinical personal injury compensation claims. The normal principles of negligence apply however these have been modified to take account of the clinical environment. The existence of a duty of care between a patient and a healthcare provider goes without saying. To prove a medical negligence compensation claim in Ireland it is necessary to show that there exists a duty of care, that the treatment failed to achieve a reasonable standard of care and that the injury was actually caused or exacerbated by erroneous treatment or late diagnosis or mis-diagnosis. The mere fact that the chosen treatment failed whereas alternative treatment may have succeeded does not necessarily indicate medical negligence provided that a responsible body of the medical profession or specialists in that field would have approved of the failed treatment provided that the chosen treatment did not have any obvious defects.

Time Limits

Medical negligence compensation claims are no different to other personal injury cases and are subject to time limits. In general terms a medical negligence compensation claim must be settled or proceedings issued in a court of law within two years of the event that caused the injury or of the ‘date of knowledge’ however there are some important considerations :-

Time does not run against the mentally disabled until full mental capacity is regained.
Time does not run against those under the age of 18 years until the eve of their 18th birthday.
Time does not run until the injury caused by the negligent action is discovered and confirmed.
The court has a wide, but rarely exercised discretion in limitation matters and may determine other issues that prevent time from precluding an application for damages.

Awards of Compensation

An award of damages in a medical negligence compensation claim is designed to put the claimant back into the position that they would have been had the negligent act not taken place. This is of course a very difficult proposition and in the extreme case a financial award can never compensation for the death of a loved one. Awards are based on historical awards made in other previously decided cases and on the judge’s previous experience as a senior lawyer, his instinct and after following government guidelines. Both parties are allowed to put forward their views on the value of the claim if it comes to a full hearing for damages however almost all cases are decided on a voluntary basis following discussions between the parties’ lawyers without the necessity of intervention by a judge except in cases involving children and the mentally disabled. Financial awards in medical negligence compensation claims may include the following categories which are not exhaustive :-

Damages for pain and suffering both physical and psychological.
Loss of past income and estimated future income.
Compensation for loss of opportunity, chance and lifestyle.
A financial award for loss of congenial employment
General expenses incurred in dealing with the injury both past and future.
Cost of care including awards to relatives for gratuitous care.
Expenses incurred in pursuing a medical negligence compensation claim.

Fatalities

Irish law categorises those who can claim as dependents in the event of a fatality caused by clinical negligence. Fatal accident compensation consists of the claim that the deceased would have been entitled to make had that person survived which includes pain and suffering plus funeral expenses together with a claim for any dependents of the deceased that takes into account the loss of the financial support that was formerly provided by the deceased plus potential future losses based on estimated future earnings. There is also a sum payable to the spouse of the deceased or to the parents of a deceased child for their bereavement. Time limits apply to fatal accident compensation claims arising in a clinical environment and it is advisable to make contact with a medical negligence solicitor as soon as possible.

Free Legal Advice

Our medical negligence solicitors offer free advice on all matters relating to negligent clinical treatment including mis-diagnosis and late diagnosis. In most cases our solicitors are able to deal with all of the legal work at no cost to you. If you would like free advice with no further obligation use the contract form or email our offices and a specialist lawyer will discuss your claim over the telephone and tell you how best to proceed to protect your right to claim compensation for personal injury.