Medical negligence is an extremely serious offence. It can result in lives being permanently transfigured from a good quality of life to one of complete suffering from someone else’s negligence, often the victim is not at fault. Bolt Burdon Kemp are a company that fight for the victims in an effort to provide them with a better quality of life, offering fantastic support and legal advice, as well as providing lawyers to fight the court battles.

To further explore the serious implications of medical malpractice. Here are some examples:

• One 72 year old client was suffering from distorted vision in one of his eyes. A GP failed to refer the client to the hospital and was sent home. The patient later suffered from a loss of vision from a detached retina. If the patient had been referred to a hospital sooner they would have not suffered from the pain and stress of a detached retina
• A 66 year old client underwent a hip replacement operation. After he was discharged he noticed two further injuries. A burn on his left hip and a pressure sore on his left heel which was not treated whilst in hospital.
• An unfortunate 34 year old patient was due to undergo an operation to fix a shattered bone. The surgical team opened the wrong leg up before they realised their mistake resulting in an unnecessary scar.
• An even more serious case. A baby was admitted to hospitals with burns. After a time spent recovering the baby was discharged. The officials at the hospital failed to check the child’s electrolytes which later resulted in the death of the child by dehydration.

All of the above clients were able to collect damages. One important factor to note is that medical malpractice is not constituted when the doctor did all they could but were still unable to prevent harm or suffering.