My Operation Has Gone Wrong – How Do I Claim Compensation?

By Stephen Hudson. Last Updated 3rd October 2024. If you have suffered avoidable harm due to an operation gone wrong, a claim for medical negligence compensation could be possible. However, you would need to prove that the harm you suffered was directly caused by a medical professional breaching their duty of care.

Within this guide, we will discuss the duty of care that all medical professionals owe, and the eligibility criteria you must meet to be able to make a failed operation claim. We will also share examples of the evidence that could be used to help support your medical negligence claim and how one of our experienced solicitors could help you with this. We will also discuss some of the benefits of making a claim with a solicitor on a No Win No Fee basis.

For advice on claiming compensation for an operation gone wrong, or to see if you may have a valid case, you can contact our friendly team of advisors. They’re available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to respond to your queries and deliver free advice. To speak to our team, you can:

• Call us on 0800 073 8804
• Use our 24/7 online live chat support
• Fill in our website’s online contact form

Select A Section

1. What Is An Operation Which Has Gone Wrong?
2. Surgery Gone Wrong – Surgical Errors
3. Surgical Negligence – Errors That Could Lead To Unsuccessful Operations
4. Operation Gone Wrong – Do I Need Evidence?
5. Compensation Amounts For Operation Gone Wrong Claims
6. Special Damages For Operation Gone Wrong Claims
7. No Win No Fee Operation Gone Wrong Claims
8. Where Can I Find Out More?

What Is An Operation Which Has Gone Wrong?

If you’re wondering ‘my operation has gone wrong how do I claim compensation?’, this section will address how one might find themselves in this situation and provide some examples.

In terms of making a compensation claim, an operation that’s gone wrong is one where the level of care provided was lower than expected and has caused you to suffer in some way. That could be an injury, an illness or even psychological suffering.

Surgeons, doctors, nurses, anaesthetists and other medical professionals are thoroughly trained before they’re allowed to participate in surgical treatment. They have a duty of care to provide you with effective treatment, using the correct procedures and equipment and keep you as safe as possible throughout. If they fail to work to the expected standards, and that causes you to suffer, then you could sue the individual or hospital for medical negligence.

We’re often asked ‘my operation has gone wrong how do I claim compensation?’. The answer, based on the above information, is that you could sue if the operation went wrong due to negligence and you suffered injuries, your condition worsened, or you became ill as a result of the negligence. In cases where your suffering was unavoidable, you wouldn’t normally be able to claim.

It’s possible to claim for medical negligence against the NHS as well as private hospitals. Also, you could claim for suffering caused by negligence during medical treatment as well as cosmetic surgery.

Surgery Gone Wrong – Surgical Errors

Surgical errors can happen for a number of reasons. However, in order to make a successful medical negligence claim, you’ll need to prove that a medical professional acted negligently and caused you to suffer pain or harm.

We have listed a few examples below where surgical errors could occur due to medical negligence:

• Plastic surgery negligence may occur if you are administered derma filler but have an allergic reaction to it because your practitioner failed to check your allergies
• Your surgeon accidentally leaves surgical equipment inside your body
• An operation is carried out on the wrong part of your body
• You are administered too much or too little anaesthesia

If you have been injured or harmed following surgery gone wrong, our medical negligence solicitors could help you secure a compensation payout.

Surgical Negligence – Errors That Could Lead To Unsuccessful Operations

As stated above, medical professionals owe their patients a duty of care to provide them with a minimum standard of care. If they fail to do so, patients who suffer unnecessarily may be able to recover compensation.

Unsuccessful operations could be caused by surgical negligence. For example, a patient could have the wrong prosthetic implanted into them during surgery, meaning that they are still unable to walk and are in pain even after a knee replacement.

Never events are defined by the NHS as serious yet preventable incidents. They include:

• Wrong site This includes procedures performed on the wrong person or on the right person but wrong location. It can occur in or out of a surgical environment. Examples of procedures that could occur at the wrong site include biopsies, pain blocks and drain insertion as well as more major procedures such as amputations.
• Wrong implant or prosthesis. This occurs when the placement of the implant is different from that outlined in the procedure plan.
• Retained foreign objects. Some items used in surgery are subject to counting or checking, including swabs and instruments. If one or more of these is left inside the patient post-surgery, then it is considered a retained foreign object.

Call our advisors for free legal advice about medical negligence claims. If your claim seems eligible, they could connect you to our solicitors.

Operation Gone Wrong – Do I Need Evidence?

After suffering harm from an operation gone wrong, it is essential that you have evidence to support your medical negligence claim. Without any evidence, your claim is unlikely to be settled successfully. You’ll be expected to provide proof of any injuries or financial harm you have endured as a direct result of the medical negligence.

Additionally, you should be able to provide evidence that a medical professional owed you a duty of care and breached this duty, leading to you experiencing harm.

If you are wondering about what evidence you could gather, we’ve featured some examples below:

• Medical records
• Photographs of any injuries
• Contact details of any witnesses
• Proof of financial losses, such as bank statements or receipts

Get in touch with us for free legal advice regarding medical negligence claims. Our advisors can provide further information on claims for operations gone wrong.

Compensation Amounts For Operation Gone Wrong Claims

Compensation for an operation gone wrong claim is determined on a case-by-case basis. The final payout will largely be determined by what injuries you claim for and how severe they are.

The payout for operations gone wrong can comprise of general damages and special damages. General damages cover the physical and psychological harm you’ve suffered because of an operation gone wrong.

Those who value medical negligence claims for general damages may check the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) for reference. This document features compensation brackets for many different physical and mental injuries. You can view some relevant entries from the JCG in the table below for guidance. Take note that the first entry is not based on the JCG.

For more advice on how much your medical negligence claim may be worth, contact us online or on the phone today.

Special Damages For Operation Gone Wrong Claims

If your operation went wrong due to negligence, it’s not just your physical and mental health that can be affected by the harm you sustained. A payout following a successful medical negligence claim may also include figures that have been calculated with the intention of reimbursing you for out of pocket expenses caused by your injuries. These figures are known as special damages.

To illustrate, we have included some examples of special damages below:

Medical bills – You may be left in pain because of the harm you sustained after a surgery gone wrong. If so, costs such as prescription painkillers and other medications can be covered by special damages.

Prosthetic costs – For example, a botched operation could lead to a limb being amputated. If this were to happen, you may require the use of a prosthetic limb. This is an expense that you could claim back if it took place as a result of medical negligence.

Loss of earnings – In the aftermath of an operation gone wrong, it’s possible that you could be left unable to work for a period of time. If this is the case, it may affect how much you are able to earn. Your loss of earnings may be reimbursed to you in this scenario.

It’s important to be able to prove that these costs and losses occurred. You can do this by gathering evidence such as receipts and payslips.

If you have any questions about what else could be included in a special damages payment, get in touch with our advisors today. They can give you tailored advice once they know more about your specific circumstances.

No Win No Fee Operation Gone Wrong Claims

If you’re wondering ‘my operation has gone wrong how do I claim compensation?’, you may be worried about the cost of hiring a personal injury lawyer. To alleviate those concerns, our solicitors work on a no win no fee basis for any claim they take on. They do so to allow as many people to claim as possible.

To begin surgical mistake cases, the solicitor will check your case has a chance of being won. If it does, and they take your claim on, they’ll prepare a conditional fee agreement (CFA) for you. This is the legal name for a no win no fee agreement.

The CFA is a legal contract between you and your solicitor. Amongst the terms and conditions, you’ll find two key pieces of information:

• The success fee you’ll pay if you receive compensation.
• A statement confirming that there are no solicitor’s fees to pay unless compensation is paid.

Success fees are used to cover the solicitor’s fees. They’re expressed as a percentage of your compensation. To make the process easier, you don’t have to send funds to cover the success fee, they’re automatically deducted from your compensation. A typical success fee is 25% of your compensation.

If you’re wondering ‘my operation has gone wrong how do I claim compensation?’, we hope you’re now ready to begin your claim and would like Legal Expert to help you. If so, there are a number of ways to get in touch, these include:

• Calling our specialist advisors on 0800 073 8804.
• Emailing details about your surgery gone wrong claim to info@legalexpert.co.uk
• Using our live chat feature to connect instantly to an advisor.
• Or, if you’d like a call back, you could start your claim online.

Where Can I Find Out More?

Thanks for taking time to read our operation gone wrong claim guide. We hope you’ve received all of the information you need to help you decide whether to make a surgery compensation claim or not.

If you’re still wondering ‘my operation has gone wrong how do I claim compensation?’, here are some more of our guides as well as some external resources that could prove useful. Alternatively, please don’t hesitate to speak to a member of our team today for a free consultation on your case.

• Legal Action NHS – This guide from the Citizens Advice Bureau provides more information about claiming for NHS negligence.
• NHS Complaints – The procedure for making a formal complaint against the NHS. Remember, you don’t need to complain to begin a medical negligence claim.
• Find Health Services Near You – A handy tool from the NHS that can be used to look up addresses of GPs, hospitals and other services in your area.
• Cosmetic Surgery Claims – This guide looks at when you could claim surgery failure compensation for negligence in cosmetic surgery.
• Cancer Misdiagnosis Compensation Claims – A look at when a medical negligence lawyer could help you claim for suffering caused by a cancer misdiagnosis.
• Hospital Negligence Claims – This guide looks at different types of medical malpractice in a hospital, not just in the operating theatre.
• Find out how to claim for pancreatic cancer misdiagnosis and get more information on the medical negligence compensation claims process.

We hope this guide has addressed the question of ‘my operation has gone wrong how do I claim compensation?’. Once again, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today if you have any queries.