Has the hospital missed your lumbar fracture? Do you want to claim medical negligence compensation and find out how much you could receive if successful? If so, this guide will answer any questions you may have regarding this matter.
Legal professionals can help provide a better understanding of the potential compensation that could be awarded to you as they have experience and knowledge of past cases. We look at what successful settlements could consist of and how they are calculated.
To pursue compensation due to the negligent actions of a medical professional, you must meet key eligibility criteria. This guide outlines the elements you must satisfy to proceed with your medical negligence claim.
You may be unsure what cases of a missed lumbar fracture at a hospital could qualify for a medical negligence compensation claim. Therefore, we will provide examples of how a missed fracture could occur within a hospital.
As mentioned above, certain elements must be present in your case to successfully claim hospital negligence compensation. Because of this, we examine how evidence can support your case and what you could submit to do so.
Finally, this guide looks at the valuable help our solicitors provide and the specific No Win No Fee agreement they work under. If you have an eligible case, you may be able to gain this support. Talk to our advisors now to uncover the validity of your clinical negligence claim.
To begin your journey with us today, get in touch by:
- Calling us on 0800 073 8804
- Enquiring with our claim online form
- Talking to us via live chat on our website
Select A Section
- How Much Could I Claim If A Hospital Missed A Lumbar Fracture?
- Am I Eligible To Claim If A Hospital Missed My Fracture?
- How Could A Hospital Have Missed Your Lumbar Fracture?
- Evidence Which Could Support Your Missed Fracture Claim
- Talk To Our Specialist Team
- Further Guidance On Claiming If A Hospital Missed A Lumbar Fracture
How Much Could I Claim If A Hospital Missed A Lumbar Fracture?
If a medical negligence compensation claim after a hospital missed your lumbar fracture is successful you will be awarded a settlement.
Your settlement could comprise two kinds of damages, the first being general damages. This compensates for the mental suffering and physical injury brought about by a breach of duty of care owed to you. Your settlement could hold a significant value depending on the severity and amount of harm you’ve suffered.
A legal professional could help by ensuring that all your injuries are accounted for. They may obtain medical evidence to assist them as part of the valuation process. Also, they could utilise a document called the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), which we have referred to, to provide the table below.
It is important to point out that the figures taken from the JCG are only guidance amounts. That is because each case differs and receives varying levels of compensation. As such, we cannot guarantee the compensation you could receive.
Compensation Table
Harm | Severity | Compensation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Back | Severe (i) | £91,090 to £160,980 | Nerve root damage, leading to severe pain and incomplete paralysis. |
Severe (ii) | £74,160 to £88,430 | Damage to nerve roots leading to impaired mobility. | |
Severe (iii) | £38,780 to £69,730 | Fractures, leading to chronic conditions including severe continuing pain and agility impairment. | |
Moderate (i) | £27,760 to £38,780 | Crush fracture of the lumbar vertebrae, with nerve root irritation and substantial risk of osteoarthritis. |
What Further Compensation Could You Get?
If you qualify for general damages, then you could also be awarded compensation for special damages. Special damages aim to compensate you for the financial losses that have occurred due to medical negligence.
So long as relevant evidence can be supplied, you could pursue compensation for various losses, including:
- Your loss of earnings from not being able to work
- Home adaptations to provide you with greater independence
- Medical expenses
If the hospital missed your lumbar fracture and you’re eligible to claim medical negligence compensation, our solicitors could help you gather evidence as part of their service. Get in touch with our advisors now to see if your case is valid.
Am I Eligible To Claim If A Hospital Missed My Fracture?
All medical professionals or practitioners once they agree to treat a patient owe them a duty of care. This means that the service and treatment that they provide must be of the correct standard. If this standard were to fall and the practitioner deviates from standards within their profession and causes avoidable harm through actions or omissions medical negligence would occur. Therefore, to make a medical negligence compensation claim, you must be able to show that:
- You were owed a duty of care
- This duty of care was breached
- As a result of the breach, you suffered avoidable harm
If a doctor were to miss your fractured lumber vertebrae, this would not automatically mean that they have breached their duty of care. In order to have a valid claim the missed fracture must have occurred due to the doctor not upholding the necessary level of care.
How Long Do You Have To Claim For Medical Negligence
Generally, you have three years to begin your medical negligence claim from the incident date or your date of knowledge. The Limitation Act 1980 outline these rules and provides certain exceptions to them, like when someone under 18 or lacking mental capacity is harmed.
If a hospital missed your lumbar fracture and you want to claim clinical negligence compensation, contact our advisors today. They can provide more information on what the date of knowledge is and the exceptions to the general time limitation.
How Could A Hospital Have Missed Your Lumbar Fracture?
If the doctor or healthcare professional at the hospital missed your lumbar fracture, you may be unsure if it entitles you to medical negligence compensation. Below, we provide examples of how you might suffer unnecessary harm due to your lumbar fracture going undetected at the hospital.
- A radiologist could carry out your X-ray incorrectly. This could lead to your fracture being difficult to identify in your X-ray. Due to your injury being left untreated, you could suffer nerve damage that might require surgery.
- Your doctor could misinterpret your X-ray, meaning they fail to diagnose your injury. In severe cases, this could lead to damage to the spinal cord and nerve roots.
- During a consultation, your doctor misdiagnoses your fracture as a sprain because they failed to listen clearly to your symptoms. Because of the medical misdiagnosis and failure to correctly treat your injury, you experienced paralysis.
There are a multitude of reasons why your lumbar fracture could have been missed during your hospital visit. The key element that must be present in your case is that the harm you suffered must have been avoidable and resulted from a breach of duty of care.
Therefore, to discover the validity of your case, contact our advisors today for a free consultation.
Evidence Which Could Support Your Missed Fracture Claim
To claim medical negligence compensation because a hospital missed your lumbar fracture, you must be able to prove key elements. Firstly, you need to show that you didn’t receive the correct standard of care. Additionally, you must show that this breach caused you to suffer unnecessary harm.
This is where evidence can be useful and used to support your case. Evidence can help prove the presence of medical negligence in your case and show how it affected you. To assist with your clinical negligence claim, you could provide:
- Medical records that outline the unnecessary harm you suffered
- Witness contact details of anyone present during your hospital consultations
- Photographs of any visible, avoidable harm you endured
- Doctor’s notes that show prescriptions for incorrectly diagnosed conditions
If you’re uncertain about what evidence you should use to support your hospital negligence claim, speak with our advisors today. They would provide a free case assessment and, if eligible, could pass you over to one of our solicitors. Our solicitors can supply an evidence portfolio to assist your case as part of their service.
Talk To Our Specialist Team
Our experienced solicitors have supported countless people through the legal process when making medical negligence claims. If you desire similar support and have an eligible claim, you may be offered a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), a specific type of No Win No Fee agreement.
A CFA means you don’t have to pay any solicitor fees upfront, during your case or if it doesn’t succeed. If your claim wins, your solicitor will subtract a success fee from your compensation. However, the percentage deducted is legally capped.
Make A No Win No Fee Claim
If a hospital missed your lumbar fracture and you want to make a clinical negligence claim on a No Win No Fee basis, contact our advisors now. You can arrange a call to suit your availability or speak with us online. If, following a free consultation, your case is deemed eligible, you may be offered the services of one of our medical negligence solicitors.
You can get in touch with our advisors today by:
- Calling us on 0800 073 8804
- Enquiring with our claim online form
- Talking to us via live chat on our website
Further Guidance On Claiming If A Hospital Missed A Lumbar Fracture
Thank you for reading our guide about a medical negligence claim because a hospital missed your lumbar fracture. For more of our helpful guides, please look below:
- A guide about X-ray negligence and when you could claim compensation
- Explaining the process to claim medical negligence compensation
- Information that outlines how you prove medical negligence in your case
For some external help, please look here:
- Information from Gov UK about litigation friends and how they relate to medical negligence claims
- A guide regarding when to call 999 by the NHS
- A guide about the NHS constitution from Gov UK