Duty of Care: Generally there is no difficulty in proving that a Doctor owed a duty to you to take care of your wellbeing. A Doctor/patient relationship creates that duty of care.

Breach of Duty of Care: It is necessary to show that whatever the Doctor did or did not do, resulting in your injury, fell below the standard of a reasonably competent Doctor in that particular field of medicine. The Doctor will be able to defend the claim successfully, if he/she can show that a responsible body of reputable Doctors in the relevant field would have done or not done, whatever is being criticised.

That means for example, if it can be shown a sufficient number of other Doctors in that specialised area, would have done the same thing, despite the injury that has occurred then there may be a defence. This is a difficult issue that really needs guidance from your legal advisor.

Causation of Injury: In addition to showing that the Doctor failed to come up to the relevant standard, it is also necessary to establish that the failure either directly caused the injuries or materially contributed to the injuries. Very frequently this is where clinical negligence claims are not successful.

It is possible that the Doctor did something wrong but if whatever he/she did wrong, cannot be shown to have caused your injury or materially contributed to your injuries, then they may not be found at fault and no compensation will be payable.

This is where the specialist clinical negligence solicitor, will ensure those issues are investigated properly. You should be very careful not to make an assumption that your case may not be successful, without seeking such specialist advice.

Burden of Proof: Generally, the responsibility to prove that the Doctor was at fault, is upon you.

Standard of Proof: The test here is whether the claim can be proved, on a “balance of probabilities” (i.e. more likely than not).

Damages are also described as compensation. There are three elements as follows:

• General Damages: That represents the portion of your compensation for the pain and suffering and loss of your ability to undertake certain things (both in the past and for the future) if you are left with a continuing disability. That figure generally is calculated by looking at previous awards of compensation.
• Special Damages: This portion represents the actual past and future expenses (which may need to be calculated) which you or perhaps someone else has incurred. They include such things as loss of earnings.
• Interest: This may be awarded on top of your general and special damages.
  The law will expect you to reduce your financial losses where reasonably possible

Compensation Recovery Unit scheme (CRU): If you receive particular Social Security benefits during your illness and claim, then to ensure that you not only benefit from Social Security benefits but also compensation for loss of earnings for the period when you were ill away from employment, the CRU scheme may require payment of Social Security benefits. The organisation which pays your compensation, is obliged to deduct the Social Security benefits figure (that is given to them by the CRU) and deduct those from your compensation payment before paying the compensation to your solicitors. Not all benefits are deductible and no benefits can be deducted from the General Damages portion of your claim.

Breach of duty Duty of care How to claim medical negligence Concerning children Medical negligence costs Medical negligence damages What is medical negligence ? Legal news update Defence by the trust Medical negligence mediation Making a complaint	Time limits for claiming Fibroids - Medical concern Medical records Other effects of clinical accidents TV Documentary The decision to take action Closing the medical ranks What you should know Medical negligence - legal terms Victims of medical negligence