Making a medical negligence claim for compensation might seem like a daunting prospect. But when you’re injured or ill because of medical negligence, it can have a big impact on your life and your family, and it can create enormous financial stress. A medical negligence claim could be a real lifeline and allow you to get the support, treatment, and financial relief you need.
Medical negligence settlements can be significant, and the good news is, we can do all the hard work for you. In this article, we break down the medical negligence claims process and share tips from our specialist medical negligence lawyers on how you can claim everything you’re entitled to without having to pay any up-front costs.
Our clients generally come to us in one of the following three situations:
There are inherent risks with some procedures and not all mistakes are classified as medical negligence. So it can be hard to know if you’ve suffered from medical negligence or not. This guide is a good starting point for understanding your situation and what to do next.
To claim medical negligence, you need to have a medical negligence lawyer with the right experience representing you. In this guide, we cover all the basic information you need to know to take the next step and choose the right lawyer for your claim.
Just because one lawyer won’t take on your claim doesn’t mean you don’t have a case. Medical negligence cases can be hard to prove, but if you have a valid claim, we’ll pay all the up-front costs for you, and gather all the evidence to support your claim. Read on to learn more about your options if you’ve been told you don’t have a claim.
If you think you may have been a victim of medical negligence, taking the right steps early can strengthen your claim and protect your rights. Here’s what you should do:
You have a legal right to access your medical records. Contact the hospital, clinic, or medical practice and request copies of all relevant documents, including test results, treatment notes, and discharge summaries. These records are crucial evidence for your claim.
Keep a detailed diary of your symptoms, pain levels, and how the injury or condition affects your daily life. Note dates, times, and any conversations you have with medical professionals. This information helps build a clear picture of your situation.
Save receipts and invoices for medical treatments, medications, travel to appointments, and any other costs related to your injury. Also document lost income if you’ve had to take time off work. These financial records are important for calculating your compensation.
Speak to one of our specialist medical negligence lawyers as soon as possible. We’ll assess your case, explain your options, and guide you through the claims process. We offer free initial consultations and work on a no win, no fee basis.
If the hospital, doctor, or their insurer contacts you with a settlement offer, don’t accept or sign anything before speaking to a lawyer. Early settlement offers are often much lower than what you could receive with a lawyer helping you.
In this section, we explain the basics of a medical negligence claim along with an example of a claim.
A medical negligence claim is a legal claim for compensation made against a medical professional when substandard care causes a patient injury or loss.
Medical professionals owe you a duty of care, and if you’re injured as a result of this duty being breached, you may be entitled to claim medical negligence (also known as medical malpractice) compensation.
A specialist lawyer will review your circumstances and tell you how much you can claim.
Here’s an example of a medical negligence claim that involved a delayed diagnosis of Appendicitis and resulted in a payout of $750,000.
Our client went to her doctor with abdominal pain and was incorrectly diagnosed as having an ovarian cyst. She was admitted to hospital and discharged 24 hours later, still without a correct diagnosis. Seven days after her initial examination, she was eventually diagnosed with a ruptured appendix, which should have been diagnosed and treated much sooner. As a result, our client suffered long-term physical and psychological issues, which wouldn’t have happened if the diagnosis had been made sooner.
Reading about successful claims is a good way to get an indication of compensation payouts that have been awarded in the past. Take a look at our article on medical negligence payouts in Australia for more examples.
Medical negligence claims can result from a range of situations. The following is an overview of the most common types of claims we come across.
Medical misdiagnosis occurs when a medical professional diagnoses the wrong condition or fails to diagnose a patient’s condition altogether.
Misdiagnosis generally leads to complications for the patient in one of three ways:
The area of misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis of an injury, illness, or medical condition forms a large part of medical negligence claims in Australia against general practitioners, specialists, hospitals, and hospital emergency departments. Law Partners also has a dedicated team of medical misdiagnosis lawyers in Melbourne and Victoria ready to help.
If a birth injury or defect could have been prevented by the treating medical practitioner by exercising reasonable skill and care, then it may qualify for a medical negligence claim.
Whether you’ve suffered a birth injury in Victoria or NSW, Law Partners have a dedicated team of birth injury lawyers to help you with your claim.
Surgical negligence occurs when something goes wrong during surgery that falls below the expected standard of care, resulting in injury or harm to the patient that could have been prevented.
Common examples of surgical negligence include:
If you’ve suffered harm due to surgical negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. Law Partners has a dedicated team of surgical negligence lawyers who can help you understand your rights and build a strong claim.
Medical negligence nervous shock claims are made by close family members of the victim of medical negligence who was either killed, injured, or put in peril as a result of the negligence of a medical practitioner.
A delayed diagnosis of cancer occurs when a medical professional fails to diagnose cancer in a timely manner, or misses the signs and symptoms that should have prompted further investigation. This delay can have serious consequences, as early detection is often critical to successful treatment and improved outcomes.
When a cancer diagnosis is delayed, patients may miss the opportunity for early intervention, leading to the cancer progressing to a more advanced stage. This can result in more aggressive treatment being required, reduced chances of recovery, and in some cases, a poorer prognosis overall.
If you or a loved one has suffered harm due to a delayed cancer diagnosis, you may be entitled to claim compensation. Law Partners has a dedicated team of medical negligence lawyers who understand the complexities of these cases and can help you pursue the compensation you deserve.
Now that you understand what constitutes medical negligence, let’s look at who can claim.
Anyone who has suffered injury, illness, or any losses as a result of medical negligence in Australia can make a medical negligence claim.
It’s possible you can claim medical negligence compensation if you answer ‘yes’ to these three questions:
If you believe you qualify, here’s what you need to know about taking the first step.
In this section we cover the medical negligence claim process, including a breakdown of the steps involved, timeframes, and the evidence needed to prove your claim. It’s a good idea to understand the process before you start your claim. But if you proceed with a claim, remember that you’ll have one of our specialist legal teams on your side, guiding you through each step and handling every aspect of your case for you.
You should speak to a medical negligence lawyer and get some advice, but it’s important to speak to the right lawyer. Some personal injury lawyers take on a range of claims, such as work injury claims and car accident claims as well as medical negligence claims. Medical negligence is a very specialised area of personal injury law that requires the ability to work closely with medical specialists and build a strong case for your claim.
Although medical negligence claims are complex, it’s relatively easy to find out if you have a strong claim. To make sure you’re getting the best possible legal advice, speak to a lawyer who only does medical negligence claims and has a strong track record of success in making claims similar to yours.
At Law Partners, we have a team of specialist medical negligence lawyers and a network of medico-legal experts we work with to build strong medical negligence claims. If you live in Victoria, we also have a Victorian team of medical negligence lawyers ready to help.
Here’s an overview of the three main stages of a successful medical negligence claim.
Your lawyer will gather your medical records and then engage with medical experts who have experience in the field of medical negligence to provide a report detailing how your treatment was negligent.
Your lawyer will also arrange for medical and allied health experts to assess your injuries and disabilities.
At Law Partners, we manage and fund this process for you, so you don’t have to pay anything out of your own pocket. Be wary of lawyers who ask you to pay these costs up front.
The negligent medical practitioner or hospital will respond to your claim and in most cases, put up a fight. Your lawyer will advise you and gather more evidence to prove your case.
The next step in the process is mediation or an informal settlement conference, where you, your legal team, and the insurance company for the negligent doctor or hospital meet and try to agree on a resolution. Most of our medical negligence claims are resolved at this stage and a settlement (ie a medical negligence payout) is agreed upon.
In cases where a settlement isn’t reached, we’ll advise you about taking your claim further.
Generally speaking, you must file your claim in Court within three years from the date of discoverability. However, this period can be extended in some cases. Get in touch with us to find out more about ‘discoverability’.
If you’ve exceeded a time limit, time extensions might still be available to you. You can call 0292644474 to speak with one of our specialist medical negligence lawyers who will give you free legal advice on your situation.
Medical negligence claims in Australia generally take 18 months to two years to settle. This is because claims can be complex, and require multiple medical experts. Agreeing on an early settlement before your injuries have stabilised could mean you miss out on a significant amount you’re entitled to, so it’s important not to rush into accepting a settlement offer. We can give you legal advice if you’ve received an early offer.
However, it’s possible for claims to settle in a shorter timeframe if your injuries have stabilised and there’s clear evidence of medical negligence or if your circumstances require a more urgent settlement.
To prove medical negligence, you need to prove that the medical practitioner or facility breached the duty of care owed to you, and that this caused you injury, or your injury would have been avoided or lessened if better care had been provided.
The first step is showing that the medical professional owed you a duty of care. This is usually straightforward – when a doctor, nurse, surgeon or other health practitioner agrees to treat you, they automatically have a legal responsibility to provide care that meets professional standards. This duty exists whether you’re treated in a hospital, clinic, or private practice.
Next, you need to demonstrate that the care you received fell below the accepted standard. This means showing that your treatment wasn’t just unsuccessful, but that it involved errors, omissions, or decisions that a competent practitioner wouldn’t have made. Medical expert evidence is essential at this stage to establish what the appropriate standard of care should have been.
Finally, you must prove that the breach of duty directly caused your injury or made your condition worse. This is known as causation. It’s not enough to show that a mistake was made – you need to demonstrate that your injury wouldn’t have occurred, or would have been less severe, if you’d received appropriate care. This causal link between the negligent treatment and your harm is a crucial element of any successful claim.
Although this might sound complicated, the process for you as the patient is straightforward, as our specialist medical negligence lawyers can take care of the whole process for you.
At Law Partners, we work with a network of medico-legal experts to build strong medical negligence claims. We work on a no win, no fee basis, and we win over 99% of our cases.
A medical negligence lawyer will generally give you an initial consultation for free, but you should make sure your appointment is with the lawyer who will be handling your claim if it goes ahead. During this meeting, the lawyer will assess your situation and provide their opinion on whether your negligence claim is likely to succeed.
At Law Partners, if it looks likely you have a medical negligence claim, we’ll generally consult with one or more medical experts to confirm the likelihood of success. This is important because if we take on your case, we’ll need one or more reports from medical experts as part of the evidence to support your medical negligence claim. We fund these reports for you, so there are no up-front costs for you to pay.
Choosing the right medical negligence lawyer will have a big impact on the result of your claim, and how much compensation you receive. At Law Partners, we take a more personal approach; we take time to get to know you and uncover issues that are not always obvious at first but can have a big impact on your settlement. We have lawyers across Melbourne and Sydney, including Parramatta and Newcastle. We pride ourselves in winning more compensation for our clients and we win over 99% of our cases.
A no win, no fee lawyer offers to run your case for you and only gets paid when you win. If you choose the right law firm, it’s an excellent option that allows you to pursue your claim without any risk, but it’s important to check the lawyer’s cost agreement to fully understand what’s covered.
At Law Partners, we have no win no fee lawyers ready to help you with your medical negligence claim.
With some no win, no fee lawyers you can still end up having to pay thousands of dollars in disbursements if your case is unsuccessful. This is because their no win, no fee agreements cover their professional fees but not the costs they incur. At Law Partners, our no win, no fee, no disbursements guarantee covers all our costs and disbursements as well as our professional fees, so you can pursue your claim with peace of mind.
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If you’ve experienced negligent medical treatment in a hospital, this section of the article explains your rights and how to go about making a medical negligence claim.
Yes – you can sue a hospital for negligence if you can show that the hospital breached its duty of care to you, and you suffered injury or loss as a result. Some senior doctors are not employed by hospitals but are contracted to them, and so those doctors would be sued directly. It’s also possible that a breach of duty by a doctor in a hospital could result in a medical negligence claim against both the doctor and the hospital.
If you sue a hospital for negligence, the hospital will pass your claim on to its insurance company. Based on our experience, if we build a strong claim for you and the insurer accepts liability for its actions or inactions, then it’s likely that your claim will be settled. However, if a settlement cannot be achieved, then we may need to take your claim to a hearing before a Judge in Court.
So, on the question of how to sue a hospital in Australia – it’s vital that you have an experienced, specialist medical negligence lawyer putting together your claim for you and giving you expert advice on how to proceed with your claim.
Pursuing legal action can be risky and potentially costly. However, with one of our no win, no fee medical negligence lawyers managing your claim, you get peace of mind that you only have to pay if your case is successful.
Negligence during an operation is when a surgical error causes injury or loss that could have been prevented if the treatment had met the expected standard of care. Or, looking at it another way, it’s when there were errors or outcomes that fall outside the known inherent risks of the surgery.
Many cases that involve suing hospitals for negligence in Australia result from negligence during an operation.
The fact that a surgical error has occurred doesn’t necessarily mean a surgeon or specialist was negligent, as some procedures carry unavoidable risks that a patient may have consented to when signing the consent form. However, if a doctor failed to exercise reasonable care and skill, your case could be successful.
Negligence during an operation can lead to a range of consequences, leaving the patient with disabilities from:
Negligence in nursing is another situation that can lead to suing a hospital for negligence. It occurs when a nurse fails to adequately complete their clinical tasks, resulting in harm to the patient.
Examples of negligence in nursing include:
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Get startedHere are some of the most frequently asked about medical negligence claims:
In Australia, medical negligence and medical malpractice mean the same thing—they both refer to situations where a healthcare provider’s treatment falls below the expected standard of care and causes you harm. The terms are used interchangeably, though “medical negligence” is more commonly used in Australian law.
Yes, you may still have a claim even if your doctor made an honest mistake. What matters is whether the treatment fell below the standard that a reasonable medical professional would have provided in the same circumstances, and whether that substandard care caused you harm. An honest mistake can still be negligence if it shouldn’t have happened with proper care.
Yes, you can still claim even if you signed a consent form. Consent forms don’t always protect medical professionals from negligence. If you weren’t properly informed about the risks, or if the treatment fell below the expected standard of care, you may have a valid claim. The consent form is just one piece of evidence we’ll review when assessing your case.
You generally have three years from the date of injury or diagnosis to make a claim, but extensions may be available in certain circumstances. If you’ve exceeded the time limit, you may still be able to claim—time extensions can apply, especially for children or people with disabilities. Contact us to discuss your situation, as every case is different.
Most of our medical negligence claims settle through mediation without going to a court hearing. We build a strong case and negotiate with the insurer on your behalf. If a fair settlement can’t be reached at mediation, we may need to take your claim to a hearing. We’ll guide you through every step and only recommend proceeding to court hearing if it’s in your best interests.
Yes, an apology doesn’t prevent you from making a claim. In fact, Australian law says that a doctor’s apology is not an admission of liability. What matters is whether the treatment fell below the expected standard of care and caused you harm. An apology shows compassion, but it doesn’t replace your right to fair compensation.
At Law Partners, your initial consultation and case assessment are completely free. We also fund all medical expert reports and assessments needed to build your claim, so you don’t pay anything out of your own pocket. Our no win, no fee guarantee means you only pay if your claim is successful.
You’ll need details of the treatment you received, and information about how the negligence has affected you. Your lawyer will gather your medical records, arrange for medical experts to review your records and provide reports that prove the negligence occurred. We handle gathering and organising all the evidence you need, so you don’t have to worry about this process.
It’s common for doctors and hospitals (or their insurers) to initially deny negligence—that’s why having strong medical expert evidence is so important. We build comprehensive claims with independent expert reports that prove the negligence occurred. Most claims settle through mediation once the evidence is presented, but if needed, we’re prepared to take your case to a court hearing.
No, making a claim won’t affect your access to medical care or how you’re treated by other healthcare providers. Your medical records remain confidential, and doctors are required to provide you with appropriate care regardless of any legal action. Many of our clients worry about this, but it’s a protected right that you can pursue compensation without consequences to your healthcare.
Generally, you have three years from the date of injury or diagnosis to start your claim, but extensions may be available depending on your circumstances. If you only recently discovered the negligence or its full impact, you may still be able to claim. Contact us for free advice—even if you think you’ve missed the deadline, there may still be options available to you.
Remember that when you claim compensation, you’re seeking a settlement from the insurer of the hospital or specialist to compensate you for your losses. It’s a settlement you’re entitled to claim if you’ve been harmed through negligence.
If you’re having trouble deciding, you’re welcome to simply call one of our medical negligence lawyers and have a confidential conversation. There’s no pressure or obligation to proceed with a claim if you’re not ready, and we’ll always be here if you need us.
Gillian Potts
Partner
An accredited specialist in personal injury law with expertise across medical negligence, public liability and motor accident compensation claims, in a career spanning the best part of two decades.
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