| What Constitutes Clinical Negligence Cases? |
| Written by Matthew Kerridge |
| Saturday, 05 December 2009 08:11 |
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Most people understand that there is a chance for things to go wrong with any medical treatment. Sometimes these problems arise through no one. 's fault. Other times, the problems can be the direct result of the clinician making a mistake. Clinical negligence is what this is known as.
Most people understand that there is a chance for things to go wrong with any medical treatment. Sometimes these problems arise through no one. 's fault. Other times, the problems can be the direct result of the clinician making a mistake. Clinical negligence is what this is known as. Clinical negligence comes down to two criteria as far as the law is concerned. Substantiation must be proven to show that the clinician in question did not uphold adequate standards. These standards are decided by knowing that another professional in the discipline, who is competent, would have avoided such a mistake. There are a variety of mistakes that can be made when it comes to medical treatment. Maybe something was done that should not have been done or something should have been done that was not. The standards stay the same across the board. The time period of the action will be used to make a decision. When the treatment was given and it was not known to be unsafe, then the clinician is not negligent. It is not considered a negligent act if a competent clinician would have made the same decision. Since beliefs about treatment are going to vary in the medical field, the law is going to take this into consideration. For causation, the legal test of but for is used. There must be evidence to support that the damage done was a direct result of treatment of lack thereof. In order for to have a claim of negligence, those two criteria must be not. It is not enough to say that the treatment was unsatisfactory. For those who have negligence claims filed against them, if they are employed by a hospital or clinical group, they will not be held responsible. The group can also not seek to recover costs from the clinician. The one, who pays, may not be the one who caused the injury. If the clinician owns their own practice, then they may be liable. A time period for filing a negligence claim is three years. The three year period can start from the time that negligence is suspected to have caused the injury. There are special rules for cases involving children. A claim has two phases. The investigative phase, or phase one, involves collecting information and examining how it pertains to the case. At the end of this phase, if there is enough proof of negligence, then the second phase begins. This phase is when the defendant is served with papers informing them of the allegations. Remember that gathering information can take a year to complete. For the most part, these cases can last six years or more. About the Author: Matthew Kerridge is an expert in personal injury claims. If you would like further information about clinical negligence or are searching for a reputable personal injury law service please visit http://personalinjury.ffw.com |