Your Questions Answered

What is ‘medical negligence’?

There are times in our lives where we may require medical treatment, an operation or simply a prescription from our health providers. When we seek the help of medical professionals, we expect a certain level of expertise and care.

Medical negligence occurs when a doctor, nurse, GP or other health professional who owes you a duty of care, fails in their duty of care to you. Treating you in a way that NO responsible medical professional should have treated you, which results in you suffering an injury.  There are a number of circumstances in which medical negligence can happen including incorrect, inadequate or unsuitable treatment, and incorrect or delayed diagnosis.

Find out more about medical negligence at Been Let Down. If you would like to talk to one of our team about a case you may have, please contact us for a free no obligation consultation.

Financial losses caused by a professional person

Throughout life, we often need to seek the advice of a professional. But if that professional person makes an error or mistake, it can have serious financial consequences.

The professional person or company may have provided inadequate or incorrect advice resulting in you suffering a loss, and this can be deeply distressing, especially if you feel you have nowhere to turn to seek redress. If you have been let down by a professional, please contact us for a free no obligation consultation.

We are able to provide advice if you have been let down by one of the following professionals:

• Solicitors
• Barristers
• Other Legal professionals
• Architects
• Surveyors
• Accountant’s
• Financial advisors 
• Insurance brokers

Injuries caused by a healthcare professional

It may be the case that a healthcare professional has caused you bodily or psychological injury. If this has happened to you, our specialist team of solicitors will assess your claim free of charge on a no-obligation basis. If we consider you have a strong claim, we will accept your claim on a No Win No Fee basis.

We can also assist if you have one of the following healthcare professionals have injured you:

• Doctors and surgeons 
• Dentists
• Plastic surgeons

We may also be able to assist if your injury was caused by somebody other than those listed. Please contact us for a free no obligation consultation.

It is sometimes difficult to know where to turn if you have been let down by a professional person or company.  And understandably, you may feel extremely frustrated and undervalued because they are not listening to your concerns and needs.

Your experience may lead you to believe that the standard of advice and professionalism you expected has not been realised.

Most, if not all professional people must comply with a strict code of conduct.  They are also likely to be regulated by a professional body or institution.  Professionals generally take their professional obligations very seriously.

Examples of the professional bodies are:

If your concern with a professional individual or organisation is about being ignored, or unsatisfactory or inadequate service, but there has been no specific loss, then you may have cause to complain directly to the entity involved.

If you cannot get the problem resolved by that method, you may be entitled to complain to the professional body which regulates the professional.

There may also be an Ombudsman service, such as the Legal Ombudsman or Financial Ombudsman.  These services are government funded and available to any member of the general public who is concerned about poor service received from professional people.

Please note that if you do contact the Ombudsman and your complaint is upheld, and damages are awarded, you may not then be able to pursue the professional person/company for an additional remedy.

If you are unsure how to deal with your situation and you consider that the professional person or firm involved has been negligent resulting in a personal financial loss or loss of chance, and would like to talk it over with a member of our legal team, please contact us.

At Been Let Down, we have been assisting people who have suffered financial losses due to professional negligence for many years, and we are very successful at what we do. Our aims are straightforward; if you decide to appoint us to represent you in pursuing your claim, we will fight on your behalf to secure the compensation you deserve. We will also ensure that you are kept up to date and are notified of any issues and developments as they unfold.

In this guide, we outline the main criteria our solicitors use to determine if you have a strong claim for compensation for professional negligence. We always endeavour to assess the merits of your case when we first speak to you, but on some occasions, we may need to undertake further investigation, including obtaining and reviewing your medical records, and relevant correspondence.

We will also discuss with you our legal fees and funding arrangements; for further information about this, please refer to our costs and funding information page.

The key questions we need to answer when handling a professional negligence case are:

Did the professional person owe a duty of care?

This is easy to prove in most circumstances. Generally, there will be a verbal or written agreement (terms and conditions of engagement) between you and the professional person/organisation. This contract (agreement) will specify the work you have instructed the professional person to undertake on your behalf. There is an implied duty of care that the professional person will carry out that work with proper skill and diligence.

Did the professional person breach the duty of care owed?

Professional negligence (i.e. in other words, they breached their duty of care) is deemed to have occurred when a professional’s conduct/actions fall below that of a competent professional in the same or similar circumstance. The most common breaches of duty are:

• Incorrect advice leading to financial loss or ruin;
• The professional person has gone beyond what they were appointed to do;
• The professional person has simply not done something that they should have – e.g. complying with a court order resulting in a claim being struck out;
• Information which is fundamental has been withheld resulting in a loss of chance;
• Below standard workmanship resulting in loss of value;

The above list is by no means exhaustive; please contact us if your situation is not covered by the above breaches;

Did the professionals breach of duty cause you to suffer financial loss or chance?

This is often the most difficult part to establish. In some cases, it may be obvious that the professional’s actions have resulted in you suffering a loss. However, there are occasions where the professional may have let you down, but you would have ended up in the same position even if the negligence of the professional person had not occurred. This is an important consideration when determining the merits of your case.

There may also be more than one professional person involved in your claim. This adds further complexities which all need to be investigated as part of the case.

If you consider that you have been let down and you have suffered a financial loss, please contact us for a free no obligation consultation.

No Win No Fee Arrangement

When instructing a solicitor to represent you, your main concern is likely to be the costs you will incur. Legal fees are notoriously very costly, and unfortunately, many people who may have a genuine claim can be put off from instructing a Solicitor.

At Been Let Down, our solicitors will assess your potential claim when you first speak to us. If we believe your claim has a good chance of success, we will offer to deal with your claim by way of a conditional fee agreement, otherwise known as a ‘No Win No Fee’ arrangement. The agreement is put in writing and sets out the conditions of engagement between you (as the client) and us (as your solicitors). This means that if we are not successful, we will not charge you for our legal fees unless the claim is deemed fraudulent or you have failed to comply with our reasonable requests to pursue the case. We also guarantee that there will be no upfront legal fees.

What is time limitation?

There are specified statutory time limits imposed by law for bringing negligence claims. These limitation periods are contained within the Limitation Act 1980. In personal injury actions including medical negligence, you will have three years from the date of injury or incident to lodge a claim with the court against the negligent professional/party.

Failure to comply or recognise the relevant limitation period or date may result in you losing your opportunity to pursue your claim. The courts, when considering whether you should be allowed to continue with a claim after the limitation has expired, will only exercise its discretion to allow you to proceed in exceptional circumstances.

Limitation in medical negligence actions is a complex issue and is often a point of discussion and contention between the parties involved in litigation. If you are unsure of the time limit that applies in your case, please don’t hesitate to call us; by delaying, you may jeopardise your chance to claim.

Children (minors) and protected parties

It should be noted that children under the age of 18 have three years from the date of their 18th birthday to bring forward a claim for medical negligence, and so the limitation period expires on their 21^st birthday.

A person is a “protected party” if they lack the mental capacity to litigate. If a person has continuously lacked capacity then the limitation period will not have commenced. If this person at some point had or has regained capacity, then the three year time limit clock starts to run.

This is why it is very important that you seek legal advice on capacity and our team of specialist solicitors can help.

Concealing negligence and/or date of knowledge

There are circumstances whereby an individual discovers a medical condition causing injury or complication has been caused by a negligent party many years after act occurred.

If such a circumstance arises, you may have three years from either the date of knowledge of the injury/complication or the date it is deemed you ought to have reasonably known of the injury.

Unsure?

If you are in any doubt on whether you have a potential claim, please contact us or request a call back to discuss without delay.

If your claim involves medical negligence, please refer to our medical negligence limitation page for further information.

What is time limitation?

There are statutory time limits imposed by law for bringing negligence claims; these limitation periods are contained within the Limitation Act 1980.

In respect of most professional negligence actions (excluding those which involve personal injury), you have six years from the date of the act which caused financial loss, to file a claim with the court.

However, there are expectations to the general rule of thumb of six years, depending on the circumstances of the case.

Failure to comply or recognise the relevant limitation period or date may result in you losing your opportunity to pursue your claim. The courts, when considering whether you should be allowed to continue with a claim after limitation as expired, will only exercise its discretion in exceptional circumstances.

Limitation in professional negligence actions is a complex issue and is often a point of discussion and contention between the parties involved in litigation. If you are unsure of the time limit that applies in your case, please don’t hesitate to call us; by delaying, you may jeopardise your chance to claim.

Concealing negligence and or date of knowledge

If a professional conceals a negligent act from you, or you discover a negligent act weeks, months, or years after it occurred (e.g. a conveyancing error is discovered years after purchasing a property), you may have grounds for the limitation period to be extended; this will depend upon the circumstances, which we are happy to discuss with you.

Unsure?

If you are in any doubt whether you have a potential claim, please contact us or request a call back to discuss without delay.