This is a contributor’s blogpost …
You know the saying that goes, “If something seems too good to be true, it usually is.” Well, this is not the case here. The United Kingdom has one of the highest standards of medical care to uphold and has an almost no tolerance policy for medical negligence and malpractice, regardless of the severity or the type of incident.
Medical negligence is medical negligence and there is absolutely no excuse for any medical practitioner to be guilty of breach of duty or breach of duty of care. It is for this reason that the entire system has been designed in a roundabout way to protect you, the patient, from being a victim, and if you are a victim of malpractice then you are adequately compensated for your injury or loss. In the case of medical malpractice, contacting solicitors like The Medical Negligence Experts immediately for a free consultation will afford you the opportunity to benefit directly from the ‘No Win, No Fee’ policy.
How Does it Work Exactly?
‘No Win, No Fee’ means you don’t pay upfront legal costs immediately. This means that regardless of your socio-economic status, you have access to the best medical negligence solicitors and will not be refused. This comes with a clause though, which states that your case must, after being scrutinised, amount to at least 60% probable success rate.
A professional medical negligence lawyer will not touch your case if there is a less than 60% grounding to stand on. If they can see that the levels which include but are not limited to ‘the Bolam test’, causation and damage will not be able to be replicated and proven in a court of law or outside, then your case will not be considered and you will have no obligation to pay a single penny. However, once the case is taken, there will be little or no costs incurred by the client. In the United Kingdom, medical negligence solicitors are not allowed to keep more than 25% of the compensation agreement payout. This protects all clients and was instituted to prevent a compensation culture, which was incorrectly believed to be breaking out in the United Kingdom. Some clients feel that it is their right to keep 100% of their compensation payout and that the losing party should be the ones responsible for the legal bills on top of paying compensation to the victim of medical negligence.
The United Kingdom changed the way that medical negligence claims were being funded and in 2013, and on April 1, the Legal Aid, Sentencing, and Punishment of Offenders Act was amended to include the clause which stated that it is the responsibility of the client to whom the legal aid was supplied to pay the fees. Whether the fees are extracted from the compensation payout or their own pocket, including legal insurance, was not an issue.
The ‘No Win, No Fee’ policy instituted by the medical negligence lawyers and board in the UK ensured that all claims were afforded a right to be fought in court. Many of the battles, due to their severity and the risk of the medical institutions or medical practitioners’ reputations being at stake, were and continue to be settled out of court in a short period of time not exceeding 24 months.
The UK continues to amend the laws to ensure that both medical practitioners and patients in their care are both protected and ensured a fair trial if it comes to that. The best medical negligence solicitors are also barred by this ‘No Win, No Fee’ policy in that they will not take simply any case further, or to the point of a trial in a courtroom. It forced the medical negligence lawyers to think twice before taking on a case, as well as making doubly sure that if they do take on the case that they win it.
It is not every case that is won, and it really depends on the years of experience and manner in which the medical negligence lawyers handle your case. It is also wise to ensure that you follow the sound advice of medical negligence solicitors and also never settle if they advise you against that. Another catch in the system is the compensation clause. Once compensation has been established and signed off it means it is a ‘full and final’ agreement. Compensation can never be claimed for twice, regardless whether your injuries have been worsened by time, or the costs were underestimated.
Make sure that when you consult your medical negligence solicitor that you follow their expertise and allow them to fight the battle, do all the paperwork and win your case. Besides, any victim of medical negligence will always be far too emotionally attached to the incident, so let the experts handle the battles, make sure you are more than adequately compensated for your incident, and that you win, in a matter of speaking.
