Are Costs For Medical Negligence Claim Cases Out Of Control?

The Medical Protection Society (MPS) is a body that deals with medical negligence claims levied at doctors and private practices. The MPS believes that, while patients deserve fair compensation, something must be done to "stem the tide of excessive legal costs".

The NHS Litigation Authority's Report and Accounts for 2010 state that 15 billion pounds of the NHS budget is set aside for medical negligence claims. MPS Chief Executive, Tony Mason, said that in the last year they have settled four high value claims, the most expensive costing over 8 million pounds. He went on to explain that, "Increased life expectancy and the cost of care packages are significant factors, but so too are high legal costs." The MPS estimates that, at any one time, it deals with an average of 5,500 medical negligence cases.
Legal costs exceeding compensation claim settlements

Part of the MPS complaint is that claimant's legal costs can often far exceed the compensation sum itself. The society blames a significant increase in legal costs for this situation, saying: "In some lower value cases we see costs five to ten times the value of the compensation awarded. For cases in the last five years in England and Wales where we have paid compensation of up to 100,000 pounds, claimant legal fees were more than 90% of the damages paid out."

With serious sums of money being bandied about, the Government was bound to take notice before too long. The Jackson Review was implemented, in which Lord Justice Jackson has spent a year reviewing the intricacies of civil litigation. As part of his review, he recommends that a system be put into place that limits the recovery of legal costs so that the final sum paid out is proportionate to the value and complexity of the claim. Lord Justice Jackson also wants to see an end to the recovery of 'success fees', which have become so popular within the 'no-win, no-fee' marketplace. The Jackson Review certainly seems to be forging a path to educing legal costs and ensuring that claims are settled as quickly as possible.
More NHS pay outs to come

However, with the Review's recommendations yet to be implemented, the NHS faces further pay outs through cases of medical negligence. According to the Department of Health, there are around one million cases of medical negligence reported each year but, according to the NHS litigation Authority, only 6,000 of those cases actually manifest themselves as claims. It may be that pursuing medical negligence claims presents its own problems for victims, or perhaps the figures do not take into account the cases that are still pending. Whatever the truth of the mater, the NHS is preparing itself to the tune of 15 billion pounds.

As the Law currently stands, anyone believing themselves to be the victim of medical negligence should contact a solicitor as soon as possible. In order for the solicitor to ascertain whether or not there is a case to be pursued, the claimant must bring with them as much information as possible, ranging from the names of the medical staff involved to photographs of any physical symptoms. While the legal system undergoes a review of practices and procedures, there are still many claimants who are claiming for the effects that someone else's mistakes have had on their lives.