Medical Negligence Solicitors Clondalkin & Rathgar, Dublin

The first step is determining if you have suffered due to negligence on behalf of a healthcare provider. If you have suffered injuries and feel your healthcare provider may have been at fault, it is at least worth speaking with an expert.

You should contact a solicitor with experience in medical negligence. They will be able to assess your case and determine whether medical negligence is likely to have occurred.

Your medical records will be obtained and carefully reviewed by your solicitor. This can be a difficult process, as it requires a thorough understanding of medical procedures and protocols. Your medical files will also be reviewed by the healthcare provider and their legal team. The healthcare provider’s legal team will be looking for evidence that contradicts your claim. As part of the medical negligence claims process, you may be required to undergo an assessment by one or more expert consultants. This will usually be a medical expert, who will assess the extent of your injuries and the impact they have had on your life. This expert will also provide an opinion on the cause of your injuries and whether the healthcare provider’s actions were negligent. You and your circumstances might also be assessed by other types of experts such as an occupational health therapist.

If the healthcare provider admits liability, your medical negligence solicitor will begin the process of settlement negotiations. This is an opportunity for both sides to agree on a settlement amount that is fair and reasonable for both parties. If a settlement is reached, the case will conclude.

If settlement negotiations are not successful, your case will go to trial. This can be a lengthy and stressful process, but it’s important to remember that your medical negligence solicitor will be there to guide you through every step. The trial will be held in front of a judge who will decide on the outcome of your case.

Once your medical negligence claim has been resolved, whether through settlement or trial, it’s important to move on with your life as best you can. You will have received the compensation that you are entitled to and you can now begin to focus on your recovery and rebuilding your life.

You can also take some solace in that your action put a spotlight on an inadequacy in the healthcare system that can now be resolved in order to protect others.

There are time restrictions for filing a medical negligence claim, and as a result, some cases may become ineligible for compensation. The time limits and exceptions are outlined in the Statute of Limitations Act 1957 and the Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Act 1991.

You have a two-year window from the date of the medical negligence to begin legal proceedings. However, there are certain circumstances that may alter the start date, such as:

-If you were a minor at the time of the medical negligence, the time limit begins on your 18th birthday.
-If you were not immediately aware of your injuries or they took a while to develop.
-You were incapacitated. For example, you were in a coma.
-You lacked the capacity to manage your affairs.

It is important to note that the two-year window applies to beginning legal proceedings, not the moment you contact a solicitor. Remember to give your solicitor enough time to issue proceedings. The logic behind having time limits is to ensure the chances of having a fair trial do not decrease as time goes on. Gathering the relevant evidence can become more difficult as time moves on.

To be successful in a medical negligence claim you must be able to demonstrate that it is more likely than not that you sustained an injury, fell ill or experienced a worsening condition due to a breach of the duty of care owed to you.

If you keep good records of your experience, you may further enable your solicitor to act on your behalf. This is because the process begins with gathering ample evidence of the alleged negligence.

Evidence might include:

-Expert medical opinions
-Photographs of injuries
-A timeline of medical appointments
-A copy of your medical records
-Your detailed personal account of the events
-A detailed account from friends or family members, especially if you experienced periods of impaired consciousness or confusion during a medical crisis.

These are just some examples of the types of evidence that could assist when pursuing compensation for medical negligence.

A special medical negligence solicitor may identify other forms of evidence that most people would not.

You have the option to request your medical records personally, or we can handle the request on your behalf, which many clients find convenient. If you choose to do it yourself, you’ll need to write to each healthcare provider you’ve been under the care of, including hospitals and your GP, to ask for a copy of your records. Once you’ve received your records, you can then forward them to us. If you’d like us to request them for you, we’ll simply need your authorisation to do so, and we’ll take care of the rest, ensuring that we gather all the necessary information to build a strong foundation for your medical negligence case.

In this jurisdiction, prior to serving medical negligence proceedings it is required by the Courts that you have in your possession a report from an appropriate medical expert, which criticises the care you received and links those failings to your injuries. Whilst I we have not yet had the benefit of reviewing your medical records, we will advise you further on the correct choice of expert when this task has been completed. We generally instruct experts in the UK in order to ensure their independence and impartiality from the HSE, Irish hospitals and Irish doctors.

We do not charge a fee for investigating a claim of medical negligence and if you receive a report that is unsupportive, the only outlay which you will bear will be the cost of that report. However, should you receive a supportive report and wish to proceed, we will then furnish to you a Section 150 Letter as is required by the Legal Services Regulatory Act. This will set out in greater detail our proposed fees.

The Law Society of Ireland and Legal Services Regulatory Authority regulate law firms in Ireland, and they have rules on advertising that all firms must adhere to.

There is a strict prohibition on advertising No Win No Fee claims which means we cannot publicly state whether we offer No Win No Fee as one of the many case funding options that we offer clients.

However, we can explain what funding options are available to you during your initial consultation. We will seek, if your case is successful to recover all of our costs and outlays from the Defendant.

In most cases, damages are made up of two parts:

I. General Damages

II. Special Damages

Special Damages are out of pocket expenses or quantifiable financial losses suffered by you as a result of your injuries and therefore the sum recoverable for special damages will depend wholly on the circumstances of your specific case.

General Damages, on the other hand, is compensation for pain and suffering. Under current Irish law this is capped at €550,000 (previously €500,000). This upper limit is reserved for those Plaintiffs who have suffered the most catastrophic and life altering injuries such as quadriplegia. All other injuries attract General Damages on a declining scale from this upper limit.

It is impossible to say with certainty that any particular case will resolve without the need for a Trial. We prepare all cases on the basis that a full hearing will be necessary – then if there is the opportunity for mediation or settlement, we will be well prepared.

Should your case fall within the minority that do require a Court date, you can rest assured that our team is highly experienced and will be prepared to the highest level.

The duration of resolving medical negligence claims in Ireland varies depending on the case’s complexity and the parties’ willingness to reach a settlement. Some cases may be resolved quickly, whereas others may take several years to settle based on the types of negligence claims.