How To Claim If A Hospital Missed Your Collapsed Lung
In this guide, we discuss when you could be eligible to begin a medical negligence claim after a hospital missed your collapsed lung causing you to experience avoidable or unnecessary harm. We also examine the evidence you could provide to support your case.
How To Claim If A Hospital Missed Your Collapsed Lung
Medical professionals, including those working in hospitals, owe their patients a duty of care. We explore this in more detail as we move through our guide and give examples of how a missed diagnosis could happen as well as the impact it could have.
Moreover, we discuss how medical negligence compensation payouts are calculated and what they could include following a successful claim.
Finally, we look at the advantages of working with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors and the terms under which they could offer their helpful services.
For more information on clinical and medical negligence claims, please contact an advisor on the number above. They can offer free advice 24/7. To reach them, you can:
- Phone on 0800 073 8804.
- Discuss your claim online.
- Send a message in the live chat box below.
Select A Section
- How To Claim If A Hospital Missed Your Collapsed Lung
- Can A Collapsed Lung Be Missed?
- Proving Hospital Negligence Claims
- What Could You Claim If A Hospital Missed Your Collapsed Lung?
- Make A No Win No Fee Claim If A Hospital Missed Your Collapsed Lung
- Further Hospital Negligence Claims Resources
How To Claim If A Hospital Missed Your Collapsed Lung
When you are in hospital, any medical professional that attends to you owes you a duty of care. They are required to provide the correct standard of care. If they failed to do so, and this led to your collapsed lung being missed resulting in you experiencing avoidable or unnecessary harm as a result, you might wonder whether you’re eligible to seek medical negligence compensation.
In order to have valid grounds to begin a medical negligence claim after a hospital missed a collapsed lung, you must show the following occurred:
- A medical professional owed you a duty of care.
- They breached their duty by not providing the correct level of care.
- This led to you suffering avoidable or unnecessary harm.
How Long Do You Have To Claim For Negligent Hospital Care?
As per the Limitation Act 1980, a time limit applies to medical negligence claims. You must ensure your claim is submitted within three years of the medical negligence. Otherwise, you may be able to start a claim three years from the date you learned of the medical negligence.
There are other exceptions that could apply. To learn more about how long you have to begin legal proceedings, please contact an advisor on the number above.
Can A Collapsed Lung Be Missed?
A collapsed lung – also referred to as a pneumothorax – happens when air is trapped between the chest wall and the lung. Complications of a collapsed lung can include damage to the heart and a brain injury due to reduced oxygen levels.
These examples highlight how a hospital could have missed a collapsed lung.
- A patient is admitted to a A&E with chest pains but no chest X-ray is organised. Other tests are carried out but these come back inconclusive and the patient is sent away without any further testing. As a result, the patient suffers lung and heart damage due to a missed diagnosis.
- An X-ray is carried out incorrectly leading to a doctor failing to diagnose a collapsed lung. As a result, the patient suffers brain damage as a result of low oxygen levels.
It’s important to note that not all instances of a hospital missing a collapsed lung will form the basis of a valid medical negligence claim. You must prove that you experienced avoidable harm as a result of a medical professional providing care that fell below the correct standard.
Our advisors can conduct a free assessment to see whether you have valid grounds to pursue a medical negligence claim. Speak to us today and see if your case could be supported by our solicitors.
Proving Hospital Negligence Claims
When making a medical negligence claim against a hospital that missed your collapsed lung, you should provide evidence to demonstrate that a medical professional breached their duty of care and you suffered avoidable harm as a result. As such, gathering the following could help you to support your case:
- Doctor reports.
- Hospital reports.
- Treatment plans.
- Diagnosis letters.
- Test results, such as from an X-ray.
- Witness contact information, such as from those who attended appointments with you.
Additionally, when determining whether the correct standard of care was provided, the Bolam Test may be carried out. As part of this test, an assessment is carried out by a group of medical professionals with relevant training. It is decided on a case-by-case basis as to whether or not this will be carried out. You also won’t be required to organise it yourself.
If you are eligible, you could instruct one of our solicitors to represent you and help you prove medical negligence occurred. They have experience handling hospital negligence claims and can assist you in seeking compensation. Call our team of helpful advisors to learn more.
What Could You Claim If A Hospital Missed Your Collapsed Lung?
If your medical negligence claim is successful, you could receive a settlement consisting of up to two heads of claim. General damages, the first head, compensate for the pain and suffering caused by the medical negligence.
Legal professionals can use the results of an independent medical assessment, often organised as part of the claims process, alongside the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help them value general damages. The JCG contains a set of guideline award brackets for different types of harm, some of which you can find in the following table.
Compensation Table
It should be noted that this table is only a guide as medical negligence payouts are calculated on a case-by-case basis.
| HARM TYPE | SEVERITY | COMPENSATION GUIDELINES | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brain | Very Severe (a) | £282,010 to £403,990 | Little evidence, if any, of any meaningful response to the environment with little to no language function. The person requires full-time nursing care. |
| Moderately Severe (b) | £219,070 to £282,010 | There is a substantial dependence on others because of a serious disability. | |
| Chest | Total Removal Of One Lung And/Or Serious Heart Damage (a) | £100,670 to £150,110 | The effects include serious and prolonged pain and suffering with scarring that is permanent and significant. |
| Damage To Chest And Lungs (c) | £31,310 to £54,830 | An ongoing disability is present. | |
| Lung | Breathing Difficulties (d) | £31,310 to £54,830 | Cases in this bracket are short of disabling breathlessness and mean the person requires a fairly frequent use of an inhaler. |
| Bronchitis Or Other Chest Problems (h) | £2,200 to £5,320 | These are temporarily aggravated but resolve within a few months. |
Special Damages
Special damages compensate for financial losses incurred as a result of the medical negligence. Provided you have proof, such as receipts, bank statements or payslips, you could seek reimbursement of the following costs:
- Medical expenses.
- Travel costs.
- Domestic care costs.
- A loss of earnings.
For further guidance on how hospital negligence payouts are calculated, please contact an advisor on the number above.
Make A No Win No Fee Claim If A Hospital Missed Your Collapsed Lung
Our experienced medical negligence solicitors can guide you through the process of claiming against a hospital that missed your collapsed lung. They offer their helpful services, such as assistance gathering evidence and building a strong case, under a Conditional Fee Agreement. This form of No Win No Fee arrangement would mean no cost to you for their services:
- In advance;
- As the case goes on;
- If you don’t win.
You will need to pay a success fee to your solicitor from your compensation if the case wins. They deduct this as a percentage. However, The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013 sets a cap on this percentage, ensuring you keep the majority of your awarded settlement.
Contact Us
Our advisors can let you know if you meet eligibility criteria as part of a free, no-obligation consultation. If you have valid grounds to proceed with your case and you wish to seek legal representation, they could connect you with one of our solicitors to begin working on your case.
For more information about how our solicitors can help, or to ask any other questions regarding your potential claim, please get in touch via the following contact details:
- Call 0800 073 8804.
- Write to us about your claim online.
- Send a message on live chat below.
Further Hospital Negligence Claims Resources
These medical negligence claims guides might also help you:
- Find out whether you are eligible to make a medical negligence claim following GP or doctor negligence and the steps you can take to seek compensation.
- Learn how to make a pharmacy compensation claim following a prescription error.
- Discover whether you could make a dental negligence claim and the process of doing so.
Further external resources:
- Information about collapsed lungs from the NHS.
- Guidance on the professional standards for doctors from the General Medical Council.
- Information on the NHS Constitution for England from GOV.UK.
Thank you for reading our guide on when you could make a medical negligence claim after a hospital missed your collapsed lung. Please call using the number above if you have any other questions.
