Can I Claim For Medical Negligence From My Gp's Failed Diagnosis?

Your doctor owes you a legal professional 'duty of care'. This is not a loose term, doctor are heavily regulated by a body called the General Medical Council (GMC), you can read further details of this duty of care on their website http://www.gmc-uk.org.

A breach of this duty of care resulting in injury or harm to you is likely to mean that there has been some medical negligence on the part of that medical professional.

If a doctor is found to be in serious breach of duty, he or she can be struck off the GMC authorised list. He will then be prevented from further practising. This is therefore a serious area of law that needs to be sensitively and professionally handled by a specialist medical negligence solicitor. It may effect how you view your doctor.

You are unlikely to realise when you consult a specialist or doctor that a contractual relationship exists between you as the patient, and the doctor, hospital, or other health care provider. It is this relationship which forms the existence of a 'duty of care'.

Once you consult your doctor about an illness or a set of medical symptoms the physician-patient relationship is formed. To avoid medical negligence, the physician has a duty to possess the medical knowledge required of a reasonably competent health care provider, who is qualified in that particular field of medicine.

He or she should be using their own medical judgement to a professional standard when exercising their duty of care. When this fails, patients should consult a trained medical negligence lawyer to see if there are sufficient grounds for a compensation claim.

This duty of care applies to the medical professional in all specialties or health care fields - dentristy, midwifery, medical, alternative treatments etc.

If you are not a patient of that particular GP or health care professional, then there is no contractual relationship with you and a duty of care does not exist. You are then not eligible to begin proceedings to claim medical negligence compensation. Equally, receiving a poor service or bedside manner from a GP or other medical professional does not mean that they have been negligent - although it may give rise to a complaint to the GP's surgery or local NHS Trusts, for example.

Sadly although the vast majority of medical professionals are highly competent, there are rare occasions when medical treatment is simply negligent. If you have suffered medical negligence then you should not worry about claiming for the compensation you need - not least because the availability of medical negligence compensation is a huge incentive for those responsible for the treatment of you and others to keep to the highest standards.