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Medical Negligence
Compensation Amounts
Negligence Law
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Injury

Medical Negligence Law Solicitors - Injury Compensation Claim Lawyers

Our medical negligence law solicitors deal with personal injury compensation claims using the no win no fee scheme which means that if you don't win then you don't pay them any of their professional costs. If you would like advice at no cost and with no obligation just complete the contact form or email our lawyers offices or use the solicitors helpline and a specialist medical negligence law solicitor will review your claim and phone you immediately.

Whether your claim involves allegations of poor treatment or misconduct by a doctor, a dentist, a nurse or a hospital, our medical negligence lawyers can advise you of your legal rights and the best course of action to take. Compensation may be available if it can be proven that a health care professional breached their duty of care, for example, by failing to diagnose an illness or injury, or misdiagnosing a condition, or providing the wrong treatment, or failing to obtain informed consent for treatment. If negligence is established, you may be entitled to lump sum payments for pain and suffering for the injury, loss of wages, medical expenses and domestic care services.

Our medical negligence law solicitors have offices situated in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, and Sydney.
Do yourself justice - give us a call.

Negligence

Australian medical negligence law has changed and instead of following UK law in regards to the 'Bolam Test' outlined in 'Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee (1957) 1 WLR 582' there are now a new set of parameters for healthcare professionals to consider which is in many ways more severe than the previously adopted principles used following 'Bolam'. Under the old rules if a doctor defendant "acted in accordance with a practice accepted as proper by a reasonable body of medical men skilled in that particular area" and was able to satisfy the requirement that "the test is the standard of the ordinary skilled man exercising and professing to have a special skill" then subject to certain exceptions which came along in later cases he would usually avoid liability for negligent care.

The test in Australia was changed by the High Court in the case of 'Rogers v Whittaker (1992) 175 CLR 479', where the patient sued a doctor for failing to warn about a slight risk of debilitating side effects following an operation. The court in Australia now do not judge a doctors competence by reference to the generally accepted practices of his profession but whether it conforms to the standard of reasonable care demanded by medical negligence law. That means that questions of competence are decided by the court as opposed to any group of doctors.

Time Limits

There are time limits within which Australian medical negligence law solicitors must either settle claims or arrange for legal proceedings to be issued in a court. The time available to bring an action for medical negligence compensation is limited in order to ensure that cases are tried while evidence is fresh in witnesses� minds, to give certainty to the ongoing carriage of personal and business affairs and to ensure that plaintiffs do not delay unnecessarily in the bringing of an action. Time limits vary according to location and the type of matter in contention. Advice should always be obtained from a local solicitor who is familiar with the legislation.

Damages Awards

Medical negligence law dictates that compensation as a result of a personal injury claim is intended to put an injured person back in the position that they would have been in had they not been injured. Damages payable are calculated as follows;

  • General Damages is compensation that cannot be precisely calculated and includes 'pain and suffering' for the injury and for long term disability and 'loss of amenity' to compensate for a detrimental change in lifestyle and disadvantage on the open labour market.

  • Special Damages is compensation that can be calculated accurately including expenses or losses that have been reasonably incurred and arise directly from the accident. Items which can be claimed include;

    • loss of past and future earnings
    • medical costs
    • assistance for household chores
    • special care aids
    • adapted accommodation and transport
    • general out of pocket expenses and other losses

HELPLINE: ☎ 1800 633 634

The author of the substantive medical writing on this website is Dr. Christine Traxler MD whose biography can be read here