The following outline will give you some idea of how a claim might proceed.
Once we have agreed together that it is worth pursuing a claim, these are the main steps in the process:
- We will send for all of your medical records – these will usually include Hospital records, GP records and any other medical records created as a result of your treatment eg physiotherapy records.
- If the medical records confirm the details of the claim, we then instruct a medical expert to review them and provide a report on “breach of duty” and “causation” – a report may be required from one or more experts dependent on the type and complexity of the claim.
- If the reports support your claim, a Letter of Claim is sent to the Hospital or Doctor who has 3 months to reply with a Letter of Response; if this contains admissions, compensation can be assessed and your claim can be settled; if it contains a denial, a Court Claim will be issued, as long as there is nothing in the denial to cast doubt upon the claim.
- The Court Claim contains details of your claim, a schedule of your financial losses and the supportive medical reports.
- A Defence will be sent from the Hospital or GP detailing their response to the claim; evidence (such as statements from you and your treating doctor and expert reports) will be exchanged.
- We will then have all the evidence which would be put before a Judge if there has to be a trial.
- We will then re-assess your claim and advise if it should still be pursued; we can at any time make offers to the Defendant to settle the claim, and they can also make offers to you.
- If no settlement can be reached, the claim may then go to trial. All the evidence will be heard and the Judge will give a verdict which will include any compensation award.
- Compensation will be assessed in terms of General and Special Damages.
We hope you find this brief outline helpful. Do contact us if you would like more information on how we can help you.
