Medical solicitors are those who provide legal help to the victims of clinical negligence.

Every year in the UK, thousands of people suffer unintentional injury or illness after being admitted to hospital.

Whilst performing an outstanding public service, doctors, nurses and other medical health professionals do sometimes make mistakes. Unfortunately, such mistakes can prove catastrophic for patients. Medical solicitors aim to provide legal advice and assistance to those who are most in need of help when clinical errors arise.

Who Are Medical Solicitors?

Medical solicitors are lawyers who are specially trained in dealing with clinical negligence cases, which are somewhat different from conventional personal injury claims. A specialist understanding of the law of negligence is required to equip solicitors with the requisite expertise to handle cases of clinical negligence, which is a particularly complex area of the law.

Doctors are afforded some margin of error by the common law of England and Wales, which accepts that risk is an inevitable consequence of medical care. Treatment provided by professional health practitioners may be deemed negligent, however, if doctors breach their duty of care to patients in a manner that might be considered incompatible with the standard reached by a responsible body of medical opinion. In other words, doctors and health authorities can be held to account for medical blunders.

How Do Medical Solicitors Operate?

Medical solicitors operate in a similar fashion to most other personal injury solicitors, with the exception that more emphasis is usually placed on the provision and scrutiny of medical records. Medical solicitors are sufficiently trained and experienced to bring most legal claims of merit before the courts, which apply various tests to establish negligence. In many cases, medical solicitors are able to settle claims out of court in a manner suiting both the claimant and defendant.

Medical solicitors run through every aspect of a clinical negligence claim with the prospective claimant before the case finds its way to court. This process usually involves discussing details of the accident, injury or illness with the claimant, who is expected to provide an accurate account of events, before reviewing medical evidence, seeking expert medical opinion and so on.

Examples of Clinical Negligence Claims

It is important to note that medical solicitors do not merely deal with cases of negligence involving doctors; all members of the medical profession, from nurses and physiotherapists to dentists and hospital managers, can be pursued for compensation.

As noted above, clinical negligence occurs when the health professional strays from the standard reached by a responsible body of medical opinion, which means that not all mistakes might be considered negligent in the eyes of the law. Common examples of medical negligence cases that are likely to succeed included errors made during surgery, misdiagnoses and complications arising from medication.

Start Your Claim

First4Lawyers retain a specialist panel of experienced no win no fee solicitors. To find out if you can make a personal injury claim, call us now on 0800 567 7866 or request a call back for free advice. If you wish to leave more details about your claim, then fill out our Online Claim Form and one of our specialist advisors will telephone you without obligation to discuss your claim further.