Permanent impairment refers to a lack of bodily functions or malfunction of a part of the body. As a result, one can suffer financial difficulties due to drastically decreased capacity to work. Fortunately, this loss is recoverable by way of compensation. Under the personal injury law, irresponsible acts or lack of taking an action and resulting in harm, is determined as a situation of negligence. The party liable for these injuries can face a compensation claim. However, the court’s decision will be affected by many factors. The extent of compensation payable to the claimant will also differ by the type of claim. Threshold requirements and duty of care vary between claims. If the injuries, you have been sustaining is the result of a medical practitioner’s negligence, you can rightfullytake legal action.
Negligence-based injuries
During the claim, the court’s decision will be mostly influenced by the actions of any other reasonable individual on a similar occasion. It is mostly expected to behave in a manner to prevent harm to others. As an example, in medical negligence claims, another peer professional’s or an expert doctor’s statements can be a determining factor. During the process, it is the claimant’s duty to provide the court with necessary evidence that a duty was owed to them and it was breached.
Duty of care
To briefly explain, the duty of care is legally defined as a professional’s responsibility to provide services at acceptable standards. These accepted standards are not related to lack of talent, but it is the competency of the professional and their devotion to following the standard procedure. Falling below these standards can be caused by skipping necessary procedures, such as failing to warn the patient on the inherent risks of the treatment, providing the patient with faulty healthcare products, failure to meet the hygiene standards or any other careless behaviour that a reasonable person wouldn’t do.
However, during the claim, it should be proven that a duty was owed to the claimant. This situation can be portrayed with such example:
‘’Kate sprained her ankle while exercising on a treadmill. She went to the hospital and after the regular check-ups, she was prescribed with painkillers. During the prescription, the practitioner did not ask Kate if she has any unusual condition that would restrict her to use such medications. After some time, Kate’s health condition has been worsened and needed further treatment. Which caused her to lose income, and additional medical expenditures.’’
The practitioner took on the task of providing medical attention to Kate, as this is their legal duty. This duty includes providing suitable and sufficient treatment. Kate’s medical history should have been examined before the prescription. Then, the omission caused harm. As a result, Kate’s state of health is damaged while it could have been avoided by a reasonable professional.This situation put Kate to demand compensation to recover her loss. However, from another perspective:
‘’Daniel broke his leg while jogging. He was immediately taken to the hospital. After the initial examination of the patient, the practitioner told Daniel that surgery was needed. However, even if the odds were minor, Daniel’s surgery involved risk as he was overweighted. Daniel was informed properly and on time. Daniel accepted the possibilities and accepted the surgery. Meanwhile, surgical complications occurred, and Daniel’s health condition was worsened.’’
On this occasion, the professional involved in the process fulfilled their duties as it includes the risk warning. The standards were met, and the patient was aware of the obvious risk,however, Daniel’s physical state couldn’t resist the treatment. In this situation, compensation cannot be demanded.
Obvious risk factor
Not only in medical negligence claims,but liability is also looked for in every personal injury claim. Even if you are certain that your injuries are the result of a practitioner’s negligence, providing the court with sufficient information can take time and patience. During this process, a strong-minded lawyer can be a great companion. As the process of proving liability requires competency and professionality, it would be a wise choice to hire a medical negligence lawyer. Lawyers that have a strong background and extensive experience in medical negligence claims offer their services on no win no fee basis. No win no fee is a guarantee by your lawyer that nothing will be charged if the case is abated, or the compensation cannot be received.
