Australia’s healthcare system is highly regarded worldwide, but unfortunately, medical malpractice can still occur resulting in harm to a patient. Being aware of and understanding your rights is crucial if you believe you’ve been impacted.
In this blog post, we’ll explore what medical negligence entails, common types of medical negligence claims, and how Somerville Laundry Lomax and our highly skilled team of specialists can help you protect your rights and best interests if your health and wellbeing has been compromised by medical negligence.
What is medical negligence?
Medical negligence, or ‘malpractice’, occurs when a healthcare professional fails to provide treatment that meets the strict accepted standard of care, resulting in harm or loss to the patient.
If you can establish that you have suffered harm, which can be physical or psychological, and that the healthcare professional failed in their duty of care towards you, then you may be entitled to seek compensation.
However, proving medical negligence can be challenging as both harm and breach of duty are necessary to bring a medical negligence claim. To better understand the likelihood of whether or not your claim for compensation will be successful it is best to get expert legal advice to assess your potential claim.
Common types of medical negligence
- General Practitioner and doctor negligence
- Hospital negligence
- Errors in operations or procedures
- Obstetric and birthing injuries
- Dental malpractice
- Errors in prescription medication (incorrect drugs, incorrect dosage)
- Medical misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose
Types of losses you can be compensated for
- Your pain and suffering and loss of amenities of life and loss of enjoyment of life.
- Your loss of earnings both past and future.
- The cost of medical treatment and surgery expenses both past and future.
- The cost of any care provided to you by family and friends.
- The cost of any care provided to you on a commercial basis.
Contact us to start your medical negligence claim
If you believe you have sustained injury due to medical negligence, we can help you.
It is important to remember that there are strict three (3) year time limits that apply to lodging a medical negligence claim in NSW, however some conditions apply.
At Somerville Laundry Lomax, our expert team is ready to assist you by investigating your case and providing advice as to whether you are entitled to receive compensation for your injuries.
Call us on (02) 6621 2481 or email us on [email protected] for a no obligation free initial consultation to assess your potential claim.