By Stephen Hudson. Last Updated 5th July 2023. Welcome to our private hospital medical negligence claims guide.
Have you or a relative experienced medical negligence in a private hospital? If this medical negligence caused you to become injured, ill or worsened a medical condition you already suffered from, you could be entitled to claim compensation for perhaps tens of thousands of pounds. Similarly, if you have a close relative who died due to medical negligence at a private hospital, or if your child was injured due to medical negligence in a private hospital and is not yet aged 18, you could be entitled to claim compensation on their behalf.
private hospital medical negligence claims
If you are entitled to claim compensation for a medical misdiagnosis, surgical negligence, a surgical error, birth negligence causing birth injuries, or any of type of clinical negligence at a private hospital, Legal Expert would love to help you make your private hospital claim. We are a well respected personal injury solicitors firm and have an excellent track record of winning private hospital negligence claims for our clients. Our solicitor’s have years of experience representing private healthcare claims and will always fight to win you the maximum amount of compensation that you are owed. We offer a free legal consultation for anyone looking to claim compensation for negligence in a private hospital. If you have a legitimate case for compensation, we will estimate how much your private hospital negligence claim could be worth and will provide you with an excellent personal injury solicitor to represent you in your claim.
Call us on 0800 073 8804 to start your claim for private hospital negligence compensation today.
Select A Section
- What Is Private Hospital Medical Negligence?
- How To Make A Private Hospital Claim
- The Time Limit For Private Hospital Negligence Claims
- Types Of Negligence In A Private Hospital
- Medical Negligence Compensation – Types Of Damages
- How Much Compensation For Medical Negligence? – Claim Examples
- No Win No Fee Private Hospital Negligence Compensation Claims
- Useful Links
What Is Private Hospital Medical Negligence?
Medical negligence is when a medical practitioner or institution performs a neglectful action or inaction towards a patient, which results in the patient becoming injured, ill, or their existing medical condition becoming worsened. For example, a patient might experience a medical misdiagnosis which could result in their injury worsening as it goes untreated, a prescription error where the doctor prescribes the wrong medication, or surgical negligence when a surgical error occurs. Individuals who experience and are injured by medical negligence are entitled to claim medical negligence compensation. If you have experienced medical negligence in a private hospital you could be entitled to make a private hospital claim for hospital negligence compensation.
If you were injured because you experienced medical negligence in an NHS hospital, you could also be entitled to make private hospital medical negligence claims. Read our guide to NHS hospital negligence here.
How To Make A Private Hospital Claim
If you wish to make private hospital medical negligence claims, the first step you will need to take is finding an excellent personal injury solicitor, to handle your private hospital claim. Legal Expert can provide you with a solicitor with plenty of experience of winning cases that are comparable to yours, to handle your claim.
Your private hospital negligence compensation claim will be made against the hospital management. Because private hospitals and NHS hospitals have a duty of care towards their patients, they will expect to have to pay medical negligence payouts for legitimate medical negligence claims.
The Time Limit For Private Hospital Negligence Claims
If you have strong grounds to make a private hospital compensation claim, you should be aware that there is a time limit for getting proceedings underway. Under the Limitation Act 1980, there is generally a three-year time limit for starting a medical negligence claim.
Depending on the circumstances, this time limit starts from either the date the medical negligence occurred or the date of knowledge. The latter refers to when you obtained knowledge that you suffered avoidable harm as a result of a medical professional breaching the duty of care they owed you.
The time limit can work differently under certain circumstances. For instance, if the injured party is a child, then the time limit is paused until the day of their 18th birthday. A claim could be made on the child’s behalf by a court-appointed litigation friend before this date. However, if this does not occur, then the injured party will have three years to start their own claim from the day they turn 18.
If the injured party lacks the mental capacity to make a medical negligence claim, then the time limit is suspended indefinitely. A litigation friend could make a medical negligence claim on the injured party’s behalf. However, if the injured party later regains their mental capacity and a claim hasn’t already been made, then the three-year time limit will apply from the date of recovery.
Contact our team of advisors online or on the phone today to learn more about claiming for private hospital negligence.
Types Of Negligence In A Private Hospital
At Legal Expert, we deal with all sorts of private hospital medical negligence claims. Here are some examples of private hospital compensation claims we frequently handle.
- Birth injuries: Birth injuries are injuries to an infant or mother that occur during childbirth. Unfortunately birth injuries can be caused by medical negligence if the doctor, nurses or midwife makes an error.
- Negligent medical advice: For example, if a doctor does not correctly warn you about the risks of an operation, therefore not obtaining legitimate medical consent, then you could be entitled to claim compensation for your injuries.
- Negligent nursing: nurses, doctors, surgeons, midwives, physiotherapists and all sorts of other medical professionals have a duty of care towards their patients, If they harm the patient though negligence, then the patient could be entitled to make a private hospital negligence claim.
- Medical misdiagnosis: A medical misdiagnosis can worsen a medical condition. For example if it is a time bound illness like cancer, a patient’s condition will worsen if their condition is not diagnosed correctly and they are not give the correct treatment that they need.
- Battery: If a surgeon operates on a patient without their consent this is considered battery under the law. This does not apply to emergency situations.
Medical Negligence Compensation – Types Of Damages
If you experience negligence at a private hospital, you could be entitled to make private hospital medical negligence claims. If you win your private healthcare claim, your compensation will be awarded in up to two parts.
Firstly, you will receive general damages. General damages are the largest part of your compensation claim. They will be awarded to compensate you the pain and suffering that you have endured.
You could also receive special damages which will serve to compensate you for any out of expenses you have experienced as a result of your injuries, or any expenses you are estimated to experience in the future. This can include at home care, medical expenses, the cost of any psychological expenses you may endure such as counselling, travel expenses such as getting to and from doctor’s appointments to receive treatment, or the cost of mobility equipment. Which special damages you are awarded will depend on the individual circumstances behind your private healthcare claim.
How Much Compensation For Medical Negligence? – Claim Examples
When making hospital negligence cases in the UK, legal professionals are responsible for calculating how much you receive in compensation. The amount you receive for your pain and suffering is a figure known as general damages. This can vary depending on a few different factors, such as:
- How severe your injuries are
- The impact they have on your life
- How long it takes you to recover
- Whether or not the injuries are permanent
When the necessary calculations are being made, the legal professionals responsible for doing so will often turn to various resources to assist them. One of these is the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). Below, we have included some example figures from the 2022 edition of the JCG – this is the latest version. Your own claim may not be reflective of the figures shown, as your injuries will come with their own unique considerations.
Doctor negligence cases (and all other medical negligence cases) are valued on a case-by-case basis. In order to find out how much compensation for a medical negligence claim you would receive, get in touch directly with our advisors today.
| Injury | Amount | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Death with full awareness | £12,540 to £23,810 | Fullawareness and knowledge of death. May occur within a few weks or a few months. |
| Death with pain and unconsciousness before | £10,510 to £10,670 | Injuries such as severe burns and lung damage leading to death. |
| Death with immediate unconsciousness | £1,370 to £2,790 | Unconsciouness straightaway – death in less than six weeks. |
| Mental suffering and anguish | £4,670 | Fear of death and fear or reduced life. |
| Injuries to internal organs – chest | £100,670 to £150,110 | Maaive and complex damage to one or both lungs or to the heart. |
| Very severe brain damage | £282,010 to £403,990 | There may be some basic awareness or ability to repond to stimuli. |
| Moderately Severe Brain Damage | £219,070 to £282,010 | Very serious disability with substantial dependence on others. |
| Tetraplegia, also called Quadriplegia | £324,600 to £403,990 | The person may be aware of their disability but not be in pain as a result of it. |
| Paraplegia | £219,070 to £284,260 | Increasing paralysis and other various health risks. |
Remember, the prices we have listed here for medical negligence payouts are provided in settlement bands, therefore they do not reflect your individual claim. You could in fact be owed more money than the number quoted to you by our personal injury claims calculator when special damages are taken into account. If you wish to hear a more accurate estimate of how much your hospital negligence compensation claim could be worth, call Legal Expert today for your free legal consultation. A friendly and informed advisor will be happy to estimate how much your claim could be worth.
No Win No Fee Private Hospital Negligence Claims
At Legal Expert, we understand that experiencing medical negligence can be a stressful process. Therefore we give all of our clients the opportunity to make a no win no fee private hospital negligence claim.
A No Win No Fee private hospital negligence claim allows you to claim compensation for your injuries, without having to pay an upfront fee, making it a more affordable and less stressful experience for many of our clients. What’s more, if you don’t win, you don’t pay your solicitor a penny, so there’s no financial risk to you. Read our online guide to making a No Win No Fee personal injury claim, or call us today to speak to an advisor about making a private hospital negligence claim using a no win no fee personal injury lawyer.
Call us today to enquire about making a private hospital negligence claim. Our friendly legal advisors will be happy to let you know whether or not you are entitled to a medical negligence payout and will estimate how much private hospital negligence compensation you could claim. If you are happy to proceed, we will find the right solicitor for you to help you claim for medical negligence that happened in a private hospital.
Call us today on 0800 073 8804, we’re looking forward to hearing from you.
Useful Links
Hospital Negligence Claims, How Much Can I Claim For Neglect?
How much compensation could you claim for neglect in a hospital? Find out in this guide.
How Much Compensation Can I Claim For A Hospital Infection?
Learn more about claiming compensation for infections acquired in a hospital in this guide.
How Much Compensation Can I Claim For Dental Negligence?
Dental negligence claims can be brought against practitioners or practices. Learn more here.
Thanks for reading our private hospital medical negligence claims guide.
