Medical Negligence
Medical negligence, by some act or omission, is failure by a health care provider to take reasonable care to avoid causing death or a significant permanent injury to a person.
An injury can be new, or a worsening of a pre-existing condition and may be physical and/or psychological.
Health care providers include institutions such as hospitals and medical clinics, and health care professionals such as doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses and other allied health service providers.
Circumstances that may give rise to a medical negligence claim include:
- failure to warn of risks of procedure or treatment
- misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis
- failure to diagnose
- mistreatment
- failure to treat promptly
- failure to follow up after treatment
- cosmetic and surgical mistakes.
If your claim is successful you may be entitled to benefits as follows:
- lump sum loss of income - past and future
- lump sum pain and suffering
- past and future medical expenses
- rehabilitation expenses
- home modification expenses
- cost of care
- other expenses relating to your injury.
Medical Negligence is a difficult area of law and not everything that goes wrong can be classified as medical negligence.
It is important that you receive professional legal advice to ensure that your rights are protected.
STRICT TIME LIMITS APPLY
The law sets strict time limits within which you must begin legal action. If you do not make your claim within the time constraints, you could lose all the rights to your entitlements.
