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Compensation payments made to patients
suing doctors for negligence have nearly
doubled in three years, according to recent
figures.
The Medical Defence Union (MDU), which
represents doctors in negligence claims,
paid out a record £77m in compensation last
year, almost double the £41m distributed in
1996 and more than twice the amount paid out
in 1990.
The union blamed the soaring cost of
negligence on more patients resorting to the
courts and a trend towards higher awards,
rather than on falling standards among
doctors.
The £77m paid out by the MDU is just a
fraction of the overall cost of negligence
to the National Health Service.
In April the National Audit Office found
that health authorities spent £1bn in
1998-99 on settled claims, and another
£2.4bn had yet to be paid in cases where the
patient was thought likely to win.
Dr Michael Saunders, chief executive of the
MDU, said: "The rise in litigation is not
attributable to a fall in clinical standards
–quite the opposite. But it is indisputable
that the medico-legal climate has changed
dramatically over the last 10 years.
"Patients and their relatives are bringing
more claims, and the amounts awarded in
compensation are getting higher, principally
because of the increasing costs of caring
for damaged patients."
He referred to a brain-damaged patient,
Therese Hunt, who received £3m compensation
from the NHS. Therese, 10, from Romford,
Essex, won the damages from the West London
Hospital, Hammersmith, after she was left
with cerebral palsy because she was starved
of oxygen during birth.
A House of Lords ruling in 1998 has led to
much bigger awards for patients who suffered
damage at birth or in early childhood, and
who need to cover the cost of equipment and
care all their lives.
A Court of Appeal ruling in March could lead
to awards increasing by up to one-third in
all cases where pain and suffering can be
proved. The judges ruled that compensation
had not kept pace with standards of living.
In October the MDU agreed to settle a case
for £1.5m after Richard Sheppard, a London
businessman, sued his GP for more than £4m.
He was left with permanent brain damage
after he suffered a massive heart attack.
His doctor had prescribed indigestion relief
when he complained about chest pains.
In another case involving the union,
Philippa Brand, a secretary and former
cordon bleu chef, won £468,750 damages in
December. She went through a personality
change and found she could no longer cook
after she suffered a stroke when her GP
wrongly put her on the contraceptive pill.
Other claimants who have been awarded huge
payouts include the family of Gavin Sebborn,
22, who received an undisclosed five-figure
sum from Nottingham City Hospital. The
hospital admitted liability after Mr Sebborn
contracted malaria from a contaminated drip
and died while he was being treated for a
severe chest infection. He died on 15 March
1999 from the disease.
Seamus Kinsella, 37, was awarded £112,000
after doctors removed three-quarters of his
stomach in 1989, wrongly thinking that he
had cancer. Mr Kinsella, from Walsgrave,
Coventry, was awarded the damages from
Coventry Health Authority in an out-of-court
settlement in January this year.
Great Ormond Street paid £65,000 damages to
the parents of a 12-year-old boy who died on
30 July 1997 after cancer-treating drugs
were injected into his spine instead of a
vein. The hospital made the out-of-court
settlement in July this year after admitting
liability for Richie William's death.
The most common claims against family
doctors are for prescribing the wrong drugs
(26 per cent), failure to diagnose a medical
condition (30 per cent), and problems
relating to pregnancy and labour (10 per
cent), said an MDU spokeswoman. |
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