Medical injuries can span from a surgery gone wrong to negligent advice from your doctor. Common examples also include prescribing the wrong medication, administering the improper treatment, or failing to advise a patient of all the risks involved and those risks materialising.

A person is negligent when they fail to take all precautions that a reasonable person in their position would have taken to avoid another from being injured. In medical negligence, it needs to be established that the medical practitioner acted in a manner that was not widely accepted in Australia by members of the medical profession as competent professional practice.

Damages may only be awarded for Non-Economic Loss if –

• The accident significantly impaired the injured person’s ability to lead a normal life for at least 7 days; or
• Medical expenses have reached a prescribed minimum amount

However, the severity of your injuries will be necessary for several things, mainly when weighed up against potential legal costs and risks, so this is something you should speak to your lawyer about at the earliest opportunity.

At the end of the case, our medical negligence claim lawyers will examine all relevant accounts and determine how much your private health insurer has paid for a medical treatment related to the malpractice negligence claim. Your private health insurer will then recover those amounts from the wrongdoer’s insurer. You do not bear these costs.

You have three years from the date of the medical negligence to bring court proceedings. Any time after this, you will need permission from the court to bring an action, which is not guaranteed and is not very straightforward.

Typically, the following three things are needed when claiming:

• The doctor or hospital’s treatment did not meet Australian standards
• The poor treatment resulting in suffering or injury
• The physical or psychological harm was a direct result of the negligence.

Medical negligence claims can be complicated. Often the most difficult part is working out ‘causation’. Even if you can prove a medical professional did the wrong thing, you also must prove that what happened next was the result of that wrong-doing and that it wouldn’t have happened if the wrong thing had not been done.

A hurdle that patients must get over in bringing a claim is a law that sets up a defence for all professionals accused of negligence. The law says if the professional acted in a way that was ‘widely accepted’ by the professional’s peers, then they are not liable. The best advice we can give you is to contact our medical negligence lawyers to discuss your potential claim. We are personal injury lawyers in Adelaide, experts in compensation claims relating to personal injuries.

You are entitled to make a claim for pain and suffering damages provided you have demonstrated a threshold level of impairment as set out by law. Even if a permanent level of impairment cannot be proven, it is possible to make a claim for costs of care, out-of-pocket expenses, and loss of earnings.

Yes. Family members can launch a medical negligence claim when the alleged negligence has resulted in death. These claims are restricted to the financial benefit the dependents would have received from the deceased, had they lived. They also don’t cover normal grieving and are restricted to recognised psychiatric or psychological conditions.

To access medical records for a medical negligence claim, you need to ask the hospital where the conduct took place for a ‘Freedom of Information request form. Australian hospitals are required to provide medical record access unless the disclosure would have an adverse effect on you emotionally, mentally, or physically.

Medical malpractice is when a health care professional fails to provide appropriate treatment, omits taking an action that could have prevented injury or death, and gives substandard medical service which causes harm.