The business of medical negligence law is a complicated one, especially in a society that is often accused of having a \’blame culture\’. On the one hand, patients are entitled to suitable compensation if they have been mistreated, but on the other many seek to claim for perfectly natural and unavoidable suffering from treatments.

Determining which cases are genuine and which aren\’t can be very difficult as the law covering medical negligence is a complex and open to perception. There is also the question of who should be advising a patient on whether or not they have been mistreated and are free to make a compensation claim.

Should it be the doctor or hospital staff that treated the patient? They more than anyone would know if they failed in the operation or treatment given, but it is highly likely they would want to protect themselves from any accusations and would not be honest with the patient. Though we might like to think that honesty would prevail, in today\’s society of costly lawsuits and even costlier compensation payments – in their millions in some cases – we simply cannot expect it.

Perhaps then, it should fall to experienced medical negligence solicitors who know medical negligence law better than anyone. For them it should be a more straightforward matter to determine if a patient has a legitimate claim, no claim or, worse, is trying to make a false claim. In practice a solicitor is a patient\’s only real option if they feel they have been the victim of medical negligence or malpractice and so with that comes a heavy burden of responsibility. An ethical solicitor will take a look at the facts surrounding the case and make a judgement on whether or not a successful and LEGAL claim can be made.

Unfortunately, due to the potential fees involved that the solicitor could make, there are some unethical companies that will wrongly advise a patient they have a case in order to push one through in the hope they can claim fees. Some will even invent evidence to support the claim. It is practices like this that make the public wary of even asking if they have a claim or not and it damages the reputation of good medical negligence solicitors that provide a genuine service to patients.

Finally, we come to the honesty of the patients themselves. The majority of claimants are honest people who have been let down through doctor error, hospital mistakes or other forms of medical negligence. They have been left suffering and / or with permanent disabilities through poor treatment and are entitled to compensation. However, because of the levels of compensation – a recent cerebral palsy claim netted the claimant £6 million – some patients are tempted into submitting fraudulent claims. This is reflected by the rise in medical negligence claims in the last few years – as an example, claims against GPs rose 20% in 2010.

And because there is a significant minority making false claims and it becomes news, many genuine claimants are put off exploring the options themselves. Medical negligence law is there to try to ensure that doctors, hospital staff, surgeons and all other healthcare professionals provide the best possible service and to compensate those that have been failed by those professionals and it should not be abused, by medical staff, solicitors OR patients.

Author Bio: Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of Pearson Hinchliffe Solicitors, medical negligence law practitioners.

Category: Advice
Keywords: medical negligence, clinical negligence, medical law, medical solicitors