Inappropriate treatment by doctor

Patients who suffer injury due to receiving inappropriate or substandard treatment from their doctor can receive compensation. In this article we explain what you need to prove to win your case.

What is inappropriate or substandard treatment?

Doctors owe a duty of care to patients when they provide medical services. There are many examples of potentially inappropriate or substandard service. These include a failure to diagnose a condition, prescribing the wrong medication, making a mistake during surgery, incorrect reporting of test results – just to name a few.

How to prove your claim?

The real challenge is to prove in court that the doctor made a mistake. The starting point is to consider if the doctor acted in a way that was widely accepted by other respected doctors as competent professional practice. What does this mean? It means that in Queensland, a doctor can defend an action if they can prove that they acted just like how other doctors would have in a similar situation. This is a powerful defence available to doctors.

The second point is that if you bring a claim, then as a patient you have to prove that the doctor’s services actually caused your illness or loss. For example if you allege that medication which was incorrectly prescribed caused you to suffer some type of serious illness, there needs to be scientific proof showing that the particular medication causes that particular illness. This can be hard, especially if the illness doesn’t manifest straight away after ingesting the medication.

The third element to the claim is to show that you suffered loss. If you need ongoing care because of the severity of your injury, that is certainly sufficient proof of loss. Another example is if you can’t return to work and suffer financial loss. If you needed to undergo expensive medical procedures to correct the mistake, that is also proof.

Why get a lawyer to help you?

Because medical negligence claims are complex, you shouldn’t make a claim against a doctor without professional help. First, we review your file to decide if the claim is viable. We have access to experts (throughout Australia) who can assist to determine if medical negligence occurred. We also consider if your injuries are so serious that you will likely need ongoing care, or whether you have or will suffer serious financial loss. If we think there was medical negligence in your case, and that it is viable to make a claim, then we fully prepare the evidence to maximise the chance of a favourable settlement or trial outcome.

Simple no win no fee agreement

When you come to us for help with your medical negligence claim, you can be rest assured that you won’t have to pay any fees or expenses until we win your compensation claim.

In Queensland, most compensation firms will charge you 50% of your compensation amount – the maximum allowed at law. This is very expensive. Our fees are usually much lower than that. Please note, however, that while we do offer a 25% fee cap in personal injury claims, this does not apply to medical negligence claims. The reason for this is simple: these claims can be much more difficult and often require significantly more work.

Before you engage us, we will provide you a written Disclosure Notice and a Client Service Agreement. These documents set out in detail the service we provide, as well as our fees and outlays. Before you sign anything, you can take these documents home with you, and study them with your family. You can take as long as you need, there is never any pressure from us. If anything in these documents doesn’t make sense to you, we can discuss it with you and you are free to ask another lawyer to give you advice. And remember, no win – no fee agreements come with a 5 day cooling off period for extra peace of mind.