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How Much Could I Claim For Surgeon Negligence?
By Stephen Hudson. Last Updated March 2024. If you’ve suffered avoidable harm during a surgical procedure, you may be entitled to claim for surgeon negligence if it occurred due to a breach in the duty of care owed to you. In this guide, we offer advice on the requirements and steps to making a surgical negligence claim.
This guide explains the different ways a healthcare professional may breach a patient’s duty of care and cause harm during a surgical procedure. We’ll also look at potential compensation payouts for avoidable harm caused by surgery negligence and the benefits of claiming with a No Win No Fee solicitor.
Surgeon negligence compensation claims guide
To learn more about making a medical negligence claim for harm caused during surgery, you can contact our friendly team of advisors. They’re available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to help answer your questions and offer free advice. To contact our team, you can:
- Call us on 0800 073 8804
- Fill in our online claim form
- Message us using our online live chat service
Select a Section:
- How Is Surgeon Negligence Defined?
- What Are The 3 Points Of Criteria For Clinical Negligence?
- What Are Examples Of Clinical Negligence?
- How Do I Prove Negligence?
- What Are Examples Of Surgeon Negligence?
- What Will My Surgeon Negligence Payout Be?
- What Is The Process Of Making Surgical Negligence Claims?
- How Could You Benefit From Using A No Win No Fee Solicitor?
- Extra Resources Regarding Surgeon Negligence Claims
How Is Surgeon Negligence Defined?
If you become the victim of surgeon negligence, you could suffer potentially life-changing injuries. If you can prove that medical negligence affected your health, you could be able to claim for the harm or losses you suffered.
Surgical negligence is when a surgeon breaches the duty of care that they owe you as a patient, and deliver care of an unacceptable standard. You can only claim compensation for medical negligence that has caused you harm.
You may be wondering whether surgeons are liable for harm that they cause as a result of negligence and whether you claim against the surgeon, against the hospital or against another body altogether. While all surgeons do owe their patients a duty of care, you may not launch a claim against them directly.
Instead, you could claim against the relevant healthcare provider. This could be the relevant NHS Trust. If you were harmed by the negligence of a surgeon in a private hospital, then you could pursue a claim against the surgeon directly.
For more information on claiming compensation for negligence during surgery, speak with one of our advisors today.
What Are The 3 Points Of Criteria For Clinical Negligence?
Surgical negligence is when a surgeon provides a level of care that is below an acceptable standard. In order for you to claim compensation for surgical negligence, you would need to show that it caused your injury, illness or a worsening of your condition that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
The three criteria below would need to apply for a claim to be valid:
- A surgeon who was treating you, had a duty of care towards you not to do you any unnecessary harm.
- There was a breach of duty of care,
- This resulted in you coming to harm.
It’s important to note that you cannot claim for all harm that comes about as a result of medical care. Particularly in cases of surgery, it might be necessary for a surgeon to cause you harm that cannot be avoided when providing the correct level of care.
For example, you may attend a hospital with a badly crushed leg that requires amputation. The amputation, while causing you harm, is necessary in the course of the treatment. Therefore, you would not be able to claim compensation.
For more information on whether you could have a valid surgeon negligence claim, speak with an advisor today.
Are There Time Limits For Claiming?
There are time limits that apply to surgical negligence claims. These time limits apply whether your claim is being made against a private or public healthcare provider.
The Limitation Act 1980 sets the general time limit for beginning a medical negligence claim at three years from the date of the incident, or the date of knowledge.
In some cases of surgical negligence, you might be aware that negligence during surgery has occurred immediately after the incident. For example, if you’ve had surgery performed on the wrong site, this is something you might notice that is the case right away. In such a scenario, the time limit for claiming would usually start run from the date you became aware of the issue.
In some instances, however, you might not be aware of the negligence until a later date. For example, you may think that your surgery has gone accordingly but at a later date start to develop symptoms. You could then undergo tests that show a foreign object has been left in your body. The limitation period would start from this date of knowledge and not the date that the negligent surgery occurred.
However, there are some exceptions that can apply to this time limit. Speak with a member of our team to find out more.
What Are Examples Of Clinical Negligence?
Below, we have included some examples of the types of medical negligence that can arise in surgery:
- Wrong site or wrong-patient surgery. This is where an operation is performed on the wrong patient, or on the right patient but on the wrong part of the body. For example, an operation could be performed on the patient’s right leg instead of their left.
- Wrong implant used. This is where the wrong implant or prosthesis is inserted into the body.
- Foreign object left in body post-procedure. For example, the surgeon could mistakenly leave a tool used during surgery in the patient’s body, that they then need to undergo further surgery to have removed.
- Infection caused by poor hygiene. Part of a surgeon’s duty of care is ensuring that they are adhering to hygiene standards. If they fail to do this, you could contract an infection as a result.
- Injury to organs or damage to nerves. Sometimes, a doctor might cause nerve or organ damage during surgery. If this happens because they provided a substandard level of care, then you may be eligible to claim.
Wrong site or wrong patient surgery, wrong prosthesis or implant and foreign objects being left in the body are all examples of Never Events. Never Events are events that should not happen if all the correct procedures and frameworks that are in place are followed.
Our advisors can offer you free legal advice about the process of claiming for harm caused by surgeon negligence. Get in touch today to find out more.
How Do I Prove Negligence?
As we have mentioned, you need to prove that surgeon negligence took place in order to be able to make a compensation claim.
It can be difficult to determine whether the actions of a medical professional were within the duty of care that they owe their patient. For this reason, the courts will often use something called the “Bolam Test” to determine whether or not a surgeon was negligent.
This involves a panel of medical professionals in the relevant field being asked whether or not the care administered was of an acceptable standard. If it’s decided that it was not, then they can be considered to have acted negligently.
In addition to this, you will need to prove that your condition worsened as a result of the negligence. If you experienced medical negligence but this did not impact your health, you would not be able to claim.
What Are Examples Of Surgeon Negligence?
In this section, we are going to look at some of the different kinds of surgeries that you could experience negligence in, causing you harm. Surgical negligence can occur in elective surgeries as well as necessary ones; you’re owed the same duty of care in each.
- Plastic surgery negligence (for example, negligence when performing a breast reduction, liposuction or tummy tuck)
- Dental surgery negligence
- Heart surgery negligence
- Spinal surgery negligence
- Caesarean section negligence(this could cause harm to you as well as result in a birth injury that affects your baby’s health)
- Laser eye surgery negligence
However, this is not an exhaustive list; in any kind of surgery you undergo, there is the potential for negligence to cause you harm.
If you want to learn whether you have a valid claim, call and explain your circumstances to a member of our team. If you have a valid case, you could be connected with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors.
What Will My Surgeon Negligence Payout Be?
We cannot come up with an average figure for the amount of compensation you might get if you win your claim for surgeon negligence. This is because all surgery negligence claims are valued on a case-by-case basis.
However, if you look at the table below, you can see different compensation brackets for different types of injuries you may claim for during surgical negligence claims. The brackets in this table are taken from the 2022 edition of the Judicial College Guidelines. This is a publication used by solicitors to help value injuries.
| Injury | Severity | Notes | JC Compensation Bracket |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eye | Total blindness | Total blindness in both eyes would be included in this category. | In the region of £268,720 |
| Kidney | (a) | Serious and permanent damage to both kidneys | £169,400 to £210,400 |
| Kidney | (b) | Significant risk of further urinary tract infections or a total loss of the natural function of the kidneys | Up to £63,980 |
| Kidney | (c) | One kidney is lost but there is no damage to the other. | £30,770 to £44,880 |
| Bowels | (b) | Total loss of natural function and a dependence on colostomy. | Up to £150,110 |
| Bladder | (b) | Complete loss of control and function | Up to £140,660 |
| Arms | Loss of both arms | A person with full awareness will be reduced to a state of helplessness. | £240,790 to £300,000 |
| Arm | Below-elbow amputation | A severe ankle injury falls into this category. In the case of a broken ankle with severe ligament damage, for example. Almost certainly, the victim will experience some sort of permanent loss of ankle function, which will limit their mobility. | £96,160 to £109,650 |
| Legs | Loss of both legs | Where both legs are lost above the knee, or one above the knee to a high level and the other below. | £240,790 to £282,010 |
| Leg | Amputation of one leg (b) | Where one leg has been amputated below the knee. | £201,490 to £270,100 |
You may also be invited to an independent medical assessment where your condition is assessed; the report from this will be used to value your claim.
How Do I Define General Damages And Special Damages?
When you make a claim for compensation, your settlement could consist of two different kinds of damages. These are general and special damages.
General damages are the part of your compensation that covers you for the pain and suffering caused by the negligence you experienced. This is the part of your compensation that is outlined in the table above.
You could also receive special damages. This part of your compensation covers any financial impact that your injury has had on you. For example, you could have experienced a loss of earnings due to taking time off work to recover. If your injuries have left you disabled, you may need to have your home or vehicle adapted accordingly.
You should provide evidence of these costs or losses. Bills, receipts and invoices can all be used to support this head of a surgeon negligence claim.
What Is The Process Of Making Surgical Negligence Claims?
Below, we have listed some steps you can take in preparation for making a compensation claim for surgical negligence. Our team can also offer some more advice about collecting evidence if you give us a call.
- Take photographs of your injuries if appropriate.
- Seek medical attention to confirm how the negligence has affected you. You can do this at another healthcare facility if you’re not comfortable doing so at the one where you experienced negligence.
- If there were any witnesses who saw the negligent act take place, gather their contact details. They could provide a statement at a later date.
- Save any travel tickets, invoices, receipts and bills that you have paid because of your injuries.
Call and speak to one of our claim advisors. Once you have explained to them what has happened to you, they can evaluate your claim and let you know whether you could be eligible to receive medical negligence compensation.
How Could You Benefit From Using A No Win No Fee Solicitor?
You may be in a position to use the services of a No Win No Fee solicitor to help you to make a claim for surgeon negligence. It’s not a legal requirement but might help the process run more smoothly than it would otherwise.
A No Win No Fee agreement means that your solicitor won’t ask you to pay them anything up front or while it’s ongoing. If the claim fails, you still don’t pay your lawyer anything. If your claim is a success, a pre-agreed success fee, which is legally capped, will be deducted by your lawyer.
To learn more about how a No Win No Fee agreement works, please call and talk to our advisors. If they feel your claim is valid, they could connect you with one of our solicitors.
Contact our claims team, any time of the day or night using the details below to get started. They can assess the validity of your claim and may be able to connect you with one of our solicitors.
- Call us on 0800 073 8804
- Use the live chat feature on this page
- Or use our web contact form.
Extra Resources Regarding Surgeon Negligence Claims
Here are some links to useful sites.
NHS guidance on having an operation
General Medical Council – Duties of a doctor
And here are some links to related guides.
Clinical And Medical Negligence Claims
How Much Compensation Can I Claim For A Surgical Error?
How Much Compensation Can I Claim Against A Doctor Or GP Negligence?
We hope this guide on claiming for surgery negligence has helped you. If you have any further questions about surgical negligence cases or other types of medical negligence claims, then please get in touch with our advisors using the contact details found within this guide.
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