Medical Negligence in Scotland – Start your claim today
Medical negligence in Scotland – Medical negligence is medical malpractice that occurs when medical professionals (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc.) fail to follow the standards of medical care, failing in their duty of care. How can you be sure that your health care professionals are looking out for your best interests? How can you know whether or not you’re at risk of negligent treatment? Here are some of the most common causes of medical negligence in Scotland.
Medical negligence in Scotland can have devastating consequences for patients and their families.
In this blog post, we will discuss some of the various causes of medical negligence in Scotland.
Causes of Medical Negligence in Scotland
Many factors can cause medical negligence to occur.
Poor communication, lack of training or expertise, repetitious chores are just a few examples.
The Rules of Professional Conduct
The Code of Medical Ethics lists various instances that might lead to Professional Negligence. Some of these are:
- A delay in attending to a patient in need of urgent medical attention
- Show of incompetence in the Patients assessment.
- Misdiagnosis, especially when the symptoms were so evident that no competent health care provider could have missed them.
- Failure to reveal or offer advice to the patient about a medical procedure which may lead to serious side effects such as deformity or loss of an organ.
- This happens when the patient doesn’t fully understand what is going on with their procedure or treatment.
- Making a mistake in treatment e.g. amputation of the wrong limb, inadvertent termination of a pregnancy, prescribing the wrong drug in error for a correctly diagnosed ailment, etc.
- Failure to refer or transfer a patient in good time.
- A doctor’s failure to act in the best interest of their patient.
There are a lot more cases of medical negligence in Scotland than in the rest of the UK.
In general, healthcare professionals had a lower number of claims against them than those working at NHS hospitals.
Important: It is important to note that medical negligence doesn’t just happen in the medical field. It can happen in other fields as well, such as construction, engineering, and law.
Causes of medical negligence in Scotland
One of the main reasons for medical errors is because doctors are human – they will sometimes rush through things without double-checking or take shortcuts when it’s easier than following guidelines set out by medical bodies like NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence).
Medical professionals should work together with patients so these sorts of issues can be addressed before a serious mistake occurs; this includes working on trying to understand what a patient wants from their healthcare experience while also providing them with the information they need about risks associated with treatments.
This all comes down to communication between doctor and patient – as these would help improve the rate of Medical Negligence in Scotland.
Medical errors must also be documented so that NHS employees may assess their overall performance and identify areas where errors occur more frequently.
The fact is that medical negligence does happen in Scotland (or anywhere else) – it just needs to be identified before it becomes too big of an issue.
How to avoid medical negligence
With so many incidents reported every year, it is important to know how to avoid medical negligence. According to a recent BBC news study, roughly 64% of over 830 patients who had suffered medical negligence recently were either injured during their stay or failed to receive correct diagnosis and treatment. Medical staffing levels and hospital congestion are among the primary causes of medical malpractice. According to The Times, the NHS in Scotland faces £1bn bill in negligence claims in 2021.
How much compensation can I get?
It’s worth noting that there are two types of compensation: general damages and special damages. General damages relate to more subjective pain and suffering-type complaints, such as pain, loss of mobility, scarring, disfigurement or depression. Special damages are for out-of-pocket expenses—for example travel expenses for hospital visits or prescription costs—and have a set limit under Scottish law.
TIME LIMITS MAKING A MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE CLAIM IN SCOTLAND
You have 3 years from the negligence or misdiagnosed date. Time limits are in place for medical malpractice lawsuits in Scotland. In medical malpractice situations, this is true.
To avoid future issues, doctors must treat patients promptly. That means if you miss the deadline due to a medical professional’s mistake, your claim will likely be denied.
HOW DO I START A MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE CLAIM?
Contact Hamilton Douglas Legal to begin a medical malpractice claim. If you’ve previously contacted us, please ask your case handler to schedule a meeting. If not, please phone us on 0141 2801112 and we will arrange a meeting with one of our medical negligence lawyers to discuss your options. Calling us today to learn more about your rights is absolutely risk-free and private.
We will explain the claims process, offering free legal advice. Most claims are funded on a No Win No Fee agreement, we can also claim back any loss of earnings.
Start Your Medical Negligence Claim Today
Are you not sure where to start with your medical negligence case in Scotland? If so, we can help. Over the last decade, we have dealt with very complicated and sensitive claims.
We can help you if you or someone you know has been hurt because of an error by a doctor, a hospital, a pharmaceutical company, or a medical device manufacturer. Call our legal team today at 0141 280 1112 to speak to a specialist solicitor.
