Healthcare practitioners have a duty to exercise reasonable care and skill in the provision of medical treatment. Everyone has the right to expect reasonable medical treatment whether they are visiting the local GP, allied health service, hospital or any other medical practitioner. While there are no guarantees in medicine, no patient should have to suffer because of medical negligence. If you have been injured as a result of negligent medical treatment, be that actual treatment or the advice provided to you, you may be eligible for compensation through the common law.
Although Australia is generally considered to have a very high standard of medical care, you might be surprised to learn that we also have one of the highest rates of clinical errors in the developed world according to a health care study. Thousands of people are injured (often permanently) or die as a result of negligent medical professionals. Many are also hospitalised due to errors in medication.
These errors and levels of negligence are not acceptable and anyone who has become ill or injured because of these mistakes, such that they have suffered a significant injury, may be entitled to compensation as a result. This is so you can properly recover, replace lost wages lost during the recovery stage or to set yourself up to be able to cover your expenses if this injury or illness means you are no longer able to work in the profession where you are trained and skilled.
There are many different situations where a doctor, dentist, specialist or other health-care providers could be negligent and a malpractice suit is launched as a result, such as:
A Common Law claim for damages usually includes compensation for:
In order to pursue a claim for damages for pain and suffering it is necessary to establish greater than 5% permanent impairment for a physical injury (other than spinal injury) or a permanent impairment of 10% or more for a psychological injury.
A bad outcome from a procedure does not necessarily mean the doctor was negligent. It ultimately comes down to whether the practitioner failed to provide treatment to an acceptable standard and that the failure to do so is the cause of your injury.
You must prove:
This can be difficult to navigate and prove, but it’s why you need specialist medical negligence lawyers. We are experts in this particular area of law and know exactly what it takes to achieve a successful outcome.
