There are a number of legal tests which need to be overcome before you can receive compensation for your injuries.

The Defendant’s breach of duty

Those providing you with medical care have a duty to provide that care in a manner which would not be considered substandard by a reasonable body of comparable medical professionals. In some cases, there can be more than one way of providing the care/treatment and it can be hard to prove a breach of duty if a minority of medical professionals would have reasonably acted in the same way.

Causation

The breach of duty established must have actually caused damage and we must establish what the damage is.  Any damage that may have resulted in any event (i.e. even if the care had been provided competently) will not be recoverable from the  Defendant.

It should be noted that we may be able to establish a breach of duty but be unable to establish that it has actually caused any damage. Both must be proven for any compensation claim to succeed.

Quantum 

We must prove the extent of your suffering and loss and quantify this in financial terms.

Evidence

We are expected to provide expert evidence from independent medical specialists in a  compliant form.  These experts will need to have access to all medical records relevant to the issues they are asked to consider and the factual evidence offered by both you and any other lay witnesses we intend to rely upon.

The balance of probability

There will often be grey areas where we cannot prove our position with complete certainty.  However, if it can be said that something is more probable than not, it will be treated as a certainty in law.

For further information please feel free to call our Medical Negligence team on 0844 800 9860. They will be happy to provide you with as much help as possible.