The following information relates to medical negligence claims and has been provided by experts Anita Jewitt, Partner and Lauren Stubbs at Irwin Mitchell.
Initial Meeting
An initial meeting with a solicitor should be free and is simply to find out whether a case should be be investigated. If medical treatment might have fallen short of expected standards (or perhaps there was a delay in organising that treatment), and you believe this has caused your child’s brain injury, you may be able to claim compensation.
The initial client meeting may take place at your home, in hospital or virtually – it depends on your circumstances, and your solicitor will be guided by your child’s needs. You can use this meeting to ask questions about their expertise in these cases and any issues you are unsure about.
The solicitor will help you understand if there is a case or not and they will explain the process of bringing a medical negligence claim. The purpose of bringing a claim is to secure compensation, which can pay for rehabilitation and therapies. Your solicitor will also help you secure an ‘interim payment’ for you child. This is an immediate payment to pay for your child’s immediate needs while the case is ongoing. It is a sum of money that would come from the total compensation that would be awarded when the claim is completed.
Funding
Either during the initial meeting or during a subsequent discussion, your solicitor will discuss the options for funding a medical negligence claim with you.
The majority of medical negligence claims are on a ‘no win no fee’ basis. Specialist solicitor will have experience, knowledge and success of running medical negligence claims. In choosing your solicitor, ask questions about their experience of working with similar cases to your child’s.
A ‘no win no fee’ agreement (sometimes referred to as ‘conditional fee arrangement’) can reassure you that you can make this claim on behalf of your child without financial risk and without upfront fees. If your case if unsuccessful you will have no fees.
If you are claiming for a child who has suffered a brain injury during birth, you may be entitled to legal aid support to cover all of your legal costs. Your solicitor will be able to advise on this further if you are eligible.
Investigation
Your appointed solicitor will begin to investigate the claim and gather evidence, which will involve looking at copies of all of the child’s medical records. Your solicitors may have Support and Rehabilitation Coordinators who you can work with and who can consider rehabilitation at an early stage and look at what assistance is available through their local authorities and the NHS while the solicitors are trying to obtain funds from the Defendant.
The solicitor will work with independent medical professionals to see whether mistakes were made in your child’s treatment, whether your child’s injuries could have been avoided and what your child’s condition and prognosis is. Your child may need to meet the expert doctors during the case and your solicitors will work closely with your family to make this as least disruptive as possible. It is likely that a meeting will be held with all the experts and an independent barrister to discuss the evidence and the case, which will allow you the opportunity to discuss what happened with medical professionals.
The case could go on for several years, so it is important to establish liability as quickly as possible, so that interim payments can be secured to help to secure rehabilitation. Once liability is admitted a ‘case manager’ will be appointed. A case managers will help you arrange private medical treatment, access therapies, purchase equipment and they will support the family through any difficulties that may arise at schools or in hospitals.
Your solicitor will then obtain expert medical evidence from specialists in different areas such as Care, Accommodation, Neurology, Neuropsychology and Occupational Therapy and these experts will advise the court on the future care, treatment and therapy needs for your child.
A final compensation figure will be decided at the end of the case. Compensation figures vary greatly for brain injury claims. It will depend on many factors and will be individual to your child and the impact the injury has had on their life.
The court will only approve claim settlement if they are confident that the settlement is a reasonable one.
Court proceedings and settlement
It is unusual that these proceed to a trial and most cases settle without the need for a court hearing. If there is a court hearing, it’s very rare for a child to need to go to court and your solicitor will guide you through the process.
Most medical negligence claims do settle outside of court through either Joint Settlement Meetings or mediations. Your solicitor may instruct an independent barrister to negotiate the case with the Defendant in an attempt to reach a settlement. Your solicitor will be able to advise you on this process.
How long might a claim take from beginning to end?
Medical negligence claims involving a brain injury usually last for a number of years. This is because it often takes a long time to establish whether there is a claim, and if there is a claim, it can take several years to fully understand the impact the injury will have on a person’s life.
Medical records for your child will be assessed at the start but the claim will need to reflect the child or young person’s changing or ongoing needs.
If your child’s prognosis is not clear, then some cases are not settled until the child becomes older – often later in childhood. It is important to ensure that your child is awarded enough compensation to last their lifetime.
Conclusion
An expert lawyer will be fully aware that the legal process may be very stressful for your family and will fully support you in ensuring that the process runs as smoothly as possible. They understand that quality of life is the paramount for your child and is at the heart of how a legal claim should be pursued.
Irwin Mitchell are one of the largest personal injury firms in the UK, whose medical negligence solicitors have been widely recognised for their expertise in securing settlements in child brain injury cases.
Irwin Mitchell solicitors helped Haley’s family obtain the financial support, rehabilitation and care they needed following Haley’s cerebral palsy diagnosis caused by medical mistreatment.
