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Every medical procedure has risks, whether it is an invasive or non-invasive treatment. This does not mean that people should be warned off undergoing surgery altogether – on the contrary, many operations are life-saving or have the potential to greatly improve lives. However, patients should be made fully aware of the risks prior to giving their consent to treatment.
Some operations can have miraculous results. For example, laser eye surgery has the potential to restore a person’s sight so that they no longer need corrective lenses. However, this form of treatment requires a high level of specialist skill and if you are injured due to the negligent actions of the professional, you may have grounds for a clinical negligence claim.
If you have been suitably warned about the risks of having the procedure performed, and something has gone wrong, your surgeon has a stronger chance of avoiding liability than if he or she had failed to make you aware of the dangers.
However, if your clinician underplayed the risks of the operation – a Which? study conducted in 2009 found three well-known laser eye clinics had done this – then you could stand a higher chance of securing compensation.
“Patients need to understand what the risks are,” says the Medical Defence Union.
The organisation added, “they need to think about whether or not the benefits they think they will get from the procedure actually outweigh the risks, in order to decide whether they want to go ahead with it.”
Furthermore, if clinical negligence results in you suffering long-term problems, such as corneal ectasia, you may be entitled to claim compensation for these injuries.
Potential problems caused by incorrectly performed laser eye surgery include dry eyes, sometimes resulting in chronic eye inflammation, reduced night vision, the appearance of ‘floaters’ and blindness.
24th May 2019
No amount of money can compensate for the loss of a loved one due to someone else’s negligence, but it can at least soften the financial blow. In one case, the widow and four children of a man who was struck down by a hit-and-run driver achieved a seven-figure settlement of their claim. Continue reading »
23rd May 2019
Sums paid in damages to negligence victims may appear large, but the reality is that no amount of money can ever compensate them for what they have lost. A judge acknowledged that sad fact in approving a multi-million-pound payout to a young man who was catastrophically injured in a road crash involving an ambulance. Continue reading »
15th May 2019
The Court of Appeal has rejected arguments put forward by the Royal Opera House (ROH) that a compensation award to a viola player who claimed that his hearing was damaged by exposure to the noise of brass instruments will curtail music making in the UK. Continue reading »
22nd February 2019
Statistics provided by Cancer Research UK indicate that on average 360,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every year in the UK. However, an article that appeared in the Independent newspaper in December 2018, revealed the startling finding that 4 out of every 10 people diagnosed with cancer have been misdiagnosed at least once before the disease was identified. Continue reading »
19th February 2019
Everyone has a right to complain about their neighbours’ behaviour, but where such complaints are unjustified and take the form of harassment the consequences can be severe. In one such case, a flat dweller who made a fellow resident’s life a misery was ordered to pay him almost £100,000 in damages. Continue reading »
23rd November 2018
A radical proposal for cycling awareness has been unveiled by the government. The plans include a series of measures to improve safety for vulnerable road users, and to encourage and support cycling. The aim is to reduce the significant number of serious and fatal accidents suffered by cyclists. Continue reading »
24th July 2017
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced measures to tackle fraudulent sickness claims. Fraudulent claims of food poisoning by holidaymakers which are false or exaggerated claims, could result in British tourists paying higher package holiday prices. Continue reading »
27th February 2017
The last revision of the discount rate was undertaken on 25th June 2001, when it was set at 2.5%. From 20th March 2017, the rate drops from 2.5% to minus 0.75%. It is a change of 3.25 percentage points. Continue reading »
21st January 2016
Jonathan Austen-Jones acted on behalf of the applicant in this case who was the subject of sexual abuse at the hands of his step-father between the ages of about 5 and 7.
An initial application for compensation pursuant to the 1990 Scheme was made in 1992 and in June 1996 he was awarded £10,000.00 in respect of the abuse he had suffered. This award was clearly too low and it appears that no psychiatric evidence was before the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). Continue reading »
Jonathan Austen-Jones acted on behalf of the claimant in her claim for damages for clinical negligence. The claim arose from the tragic loss of her baby’s life as a consequence of the failure of the Defendant Trust, appreciating that baby B had a Group B streptococcus infection at his birth on the night of the 1st January 2009, resulting in baby B’s death at 00.55 hours on the 3rd January 2009. Continue reading »
