Outcomes In Clinical Negligence Claims

The BBC has reported that the family of a young girl is set to receive nearly £21 million from a Northern Ireland health trust in what is believed to be one of the largest medical negligence settlements ever recorded in the region.

The article has highlighted a common frustration that clinical negligence lawyers can understand all too well – why does it take so long for a family to receive an admission of liability even in the face of persuasive medical evidence that negligence has taken place?

Frustrations of delayed admissions of liability

In the BBC’s report, they highlight the family’s concerns in that case of the length of time it took for the hospital to admit liability. In that case, it took a staggering 13 years for admissions to be made.

This, understandably, felt to the family as though their pain and suffering were being prolonged needlessly, and inevitably this leads to frustrations for all involved.

Often in claims involving clinical negligence, the person who requires representation will be severely injured. This can include children who have suffered the devastation of a birth injury causing cerebral palsy, rendering them permanently disabled and dependent on lifelong care.

A family who has suffered this awful experience has to cope with, not just the loss of their child’s health and the future they hoped for them, but the need to forevermore provide round-the-clock care and assistance to a child with very complex needs. Such children require multiple therapies on a daily basis and often require hoists and other equipment to mobilise them out of bed and around their home/into a car. They are dependent on wheelchairs and are often unable to communicate. They are susceptible to infection or suffocation.

The lives of the families of such children are devastated by the circumstances they find themselves in. They often have very limited support and live in cramped accommodations that are unsuitable for the needs of their injured child. Usually, one or both parents have to give up work to look after their child and they get very little respite or rest from these duties. These difficulties are compounded greatly when the cause of their child’s injury occurs as a result of negligence.

People who have suffered an injury as a result of medical negligence are entitled to pursue a claim for compensation.

If their claim is successful, that compensation is intended to provide the patient and their family with the financial means to afford the care, support, and equipment required.

Unless and until admissions of liability are made, there is little to no scope for reaching a settlement or considering interim payment of damages. This means that, whilst the admissions are awaited, the patient and their families are left to cope with the consequences of the negligence alone.

You can therefore understand entirely why there is much frustration in cases where admissions could have been made far sooner.

The benefits of prompt resolution

In any clinical negligence claim, it is open to a Defendant healthcare provider to make admissions at any stage of the case, if the evidence points to a need to do so.

In some cases, failures in care can be apparent before legal teams have become involved as patients will often make complaints to the hospital in the first instance and, as part of those investigations, it will become clear that treatment has not gone to plan.

If very early admissions are not made, though, the usual stage of a claim at which admissions will normally be forthcoming will be following a Claimant finishing their investigations into their claim and serving a formal Letter of Claim on the Defendant. Once a Defendant has carried out their own investigations, they will decide whether to make admissions of liability in the case.

The benefit of early or prompt admissions of liability in the case is that it can often then lead to an ability to focus on issues other than liability, such as the value of the claim and settlement discussions.

With this process then able to move forward, settlement is likely to be possible at a much earlier stage, meaning that a Claimant will receive their compensation monies and finally be able to move on with their lives, and in addition it will also lead to keeping the legal costs of prolonged litigation to a minimum.

Comment

It is true to say that there can often be delays in reaching a point of admissions of liability in cases.

Sometimes, that can be unavoidable due to a need to properly investigate and prove the allegations that have been made. This can and does take time in complex cases of this nature.

However, sometimes, these delays occur due to a failure by Defendants to make admissions at the earliest possible opportunity. Such admissions would limit the legal costs significantly and push claims forward more swiftly to a point where Claimants can start to see the benefit of the compensation monies they are entitled to.

Stories such as the one reported by the BBC this week serve to highlight the importance of sensibly and proactively moving a claim forward, and that relies on all parties involved engaging in the process and taking the necessary steps where available.