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Medical professionals have a duty of care towards you and must ensure your safety and wellbeing. If they’ve failed to do this and you’ve suffered injury, illness, or worsening of a condition as a result, you could be a victim of hospital negligence and entitled to make a compensation claim.
You can make a negligence or hospital malpractice claim if you’ve suffered physical or psychological injury, developed an illness, or if an existing condition has been made worse because of negligent or subpar treatment by a medical professional in a hospital.
A medical professional is anybody who’s involved in or responsible for providing healthcare treatment or advice, such as a midwife, doctor, radiographer, dentist, pharmacist, nurse, or any other allied healthcare professional.
If you’re not sure whether you’ve been a victim of hospital negligence, consider these questions:
If you answer yes to these questions, it’s possible that negligence has taken place and you could be able to make a compensation claim.
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Get startedHospital negligence, sometimes called ‘medical negligence‘ or ‘medical malpractice‘ occurs when a medical professional’s behaviour falls below the standard of care expected and it causes a patient to suffer an injury, develop an illness, or makes their condition worse.
Common examples include:
Hospital negligence claims can involve any area of medicine, including:
Hospital negligence claims payouts in Australia can fall anywhere between tens of thousands to millions of dollars. The final figure depends on the severity of your injuries and losses and will generally account for:
According to data obtained by the Northern Daily Leader**, the average compensation payout by the Hunter New England Health Service in NSW between October 2016 and October 2018 was more than $650,000. However, this figure is considered high and it’s likely that the average across NSW is lower.
It’s important that you act as soon as you know or think that hospital malpractice has taken place and that it’s caused you an injury, illness, or loss. Hospital negligence claims in Australia need to be brought within 3 years of the date of injury. Time limits for compensation claims involving children can vary.
Depending on your hospital negligence case, however, your time limit may be longer. It’s best to contact a medical negligence lawyer as soon as possible so that your situation can be assessed.
Yes, you can. However, the laws surrounding hospital malpractice and negligence in Australia are very complicated.
Even if you’ve clearly received negligent treatment, you can only make a claim if you’ve suffered harm, injury, or loss. And if you do fall into this category, you’ve got to prove that the hospital medical negligence is more than an acceptable mishap or mistake because Australian law recognises that medical providers aren’t expected to be perfect.
To get the maximum hospital negligence claim payout you’re entitled to, it’s recommended that you don’t attempt to make a claim on your own.
Everyone’s situation is different, as are all hospital negligence claims.
The first thing you should do if you think you’ve got a claim is speak to a hospital negligence lawyer. They’ll take the time to get to know you personally, learn about your case, and advise you on how to proceed. This means that you’ll find yourself in a much better position than if you go it alone.
Shane Butcher
Principal
An accredited specialist in personal injury law and spokesman for the Australian Lawyers Alliance, with the best part of 20 years’ experience in assisting injured Australians receive everything they’re entitled to.
Our senior lawyers will assess your case for free.
To find out how much you can claim or to get free legal advice, speak to a hospital negligence lawyer at Law Partners today.
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