Legal News
NHS pays out £108m compensation for patient deaths caused by medical negligence (1 June 2015)
Date: 01/06/2015
Figures from the National Health Service Litigation Authority (NHSLA) show that the NHS has paid out £108 million in compensation to families whose loved ones have died as a result of medical negligence – with around 20 families every week receiving compensation from the health service.
The compensation claims involve poor nursing, errors in critical care, incorrect diagnosis, or a medication error which led directly to a patient dying.
The Mail on Sunday reports that in the last year, nearly one-third of the 1,347 compensation awards for patients dying were caused either by a failure to treat or a delay in treating a patient, which resulted in death.
In 2013, one claim was settled for £2.4m – however, the average payout for a fatality during NHS treatment was £50,000.
A further 183 NHS compensation claims were made when families claimed hospital doctors had failed to diagnose a patient’s condition – or by the time a diagnosis was made, the patient was near death or had died.
A total of 37 claims were made by families claiming their loved ones had been discharged from hospital too soon – while 27 claims involved allegations that doctors had not performed the correct diagnostic tests, as a result of which the patient had died.
The figures show that compensation awards from the NHS for patient deaths have doubled in the last five years.
Duncan Lewis Clinical Negligence Solicitors – No win no fee Medical Negligence Claims
Duncan Lewis clinical negligence solicitors can advise NHS patients who have suffered injury as a result of poor care or medical negligence on how to make a no win no fee claim for compensation.
Claims for medical negligence have to be made within three years of injury or diagnosis of injury – and Duncan Lewis can also advise the families whose loved one has died as a result of medical negligence on how to make a no win no fee Fatal Injuries Claim against the NHS.
Children can claim medical negligence compensation up to the age of 21.
For expert legal advice on no win no fee Medical Negligence Claims, call Duncan Lewis Clinical Negligence Solicitors on 020 7923 4020.