Making a surgical accident claim
If you are making a surgical accident claim and are looking for experienced solicitors to deal with your case then contact us for a free case assessment and details of no win, no fee funding.
Surgeons in the UK are among the best trained in the world, but even the most accomplished clinicians can make mistakes. Thankfully, grossly obvious surgical accidents (such as operating on a completely wrong part of the body) are very rare, but as medicine advances, and surgery becomes more complex, pushing the boundaries of what is achievable, things do not always go as planned.
Just because something goes wrong does not necessarily mean the surgeon or hospital is at fault. Furthermore, a surgeon is duty bound to take whatever action is necessary to protect their patient’s wellbeing in an emergency, even if this means doing something that was not foreseen and without the chance to discuss it with the patient. Nor can surgery ever be guaranteed to succeed. If a surgeon has done all they can reasonably do, they will not be held legally responsible if the outcome was not the one that had been hoped for.
On the other hand, if surgery is carried out carelessly, incorrectly, incompetently, or without justifiable cause, that could well give rise to a compensation claim. Claims can also be made when mistakes are made post-operatively.
You can read real life case studies of a couple of surgical error claims we have dealt with here and here.