But for the few who are actually affected the picture changes completely.  For them the small risk of being made worse rather than better has become a reality.

This can be a short term inconvenience or a life changing event - depending on the seriousness of the adverse outcome.  Often the size of the harm done bears little relation to the seriousness of the error.

Medical errors themselves can be due to a variety of causes, including:

• inadvertence
• misunderstanding
• lack of experience
• human error

On top of individual errors, the hospital system and the administration supporting the doctor can sometimes play a part.

Very few medical accidents are, by definition, intended. Although there have been a few infamous cases of doctors and nurses who set out to harm their patients, this too is very rare.

We sometimes see cases where a series of trivial errors have been made often by different people.  The result can be a cascade, where over time a preventable complication becomes unavoidable.

Sadly, after something goes wrong the response of some staff can be to try to distance themselves from what has happened.   This can have unfortunate consequences. 

Instead of an injured patient receiving the additional care their medical injury requires, they can find it hard to convince staff to see that something has gone wrong. Instead of receiving an open and honest explanation of what happened the patient can often feels that they are being fobbed off or that their experience is being denied. All of this can add to the sense of frustration, sometimes anger, and in the end to feeling let down by the medical system in which the patient placed their trust and health.

It is often these feelings that lead to people making medical negligence claims

Add to this the need for continuing medical treatment and not surprisingly some injured patients feel they have nowhere to turn.  How do you balance the need for accountability with the fear that making a fuss will jeopardise future care?

Fortunately help is available. Our specialists have walked this path with our clients many times before. We provide confidential, practical and objective advice to help the injured patient or their family decide what best to do in their particular circumstances, and whether to make medical negligence claims.

Telephone one of our medical negligence experts now on 03700 86 86 86 to tap into our extensive experience of medical negligence claims.

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