The Hard Truth Of Medical Negligence Payouts

When you read the headlines about large medical negligence payouts, it's hard not to be blinded by the huge sums often involved. Around 600 people have received six-figure sums from medical negligence claims. While the sums involved could put you in mind of the National Lottery, it's important to remember that these compensation payouts are the result of mistakes that have had tragic consequences for those involved.

The NHS Litigation Authority's annual report has shown a marked increase in the number of medical negligence claims taken out against the NHS. The report showed that, in the years between 2007 and 2009, the number of claims rose by 11%, costing the NHS around 800million pounds in compensation payouts. In 1996, the Clinical Negligence Scheme for NHS Trust was founded to handle all medical negligence claims against the health service. Its figures make startling reading; in the years since it was founded, more than 600 people have successfully launched medical negligence claims against the NHS, with payouts in excess of 1million pounds. The sum total of all these payouts is a staggering 1.8 billion pounds. To put this in context, it means that for every four millionaires created by the National Lottery, a fifth is created as the result of having their lives changed for the worse by the NHS.

The figures revealed that the largest portions of these compensation sums were awarded in maternity cases; this is because medical negligence during the delivery of a baby can result in lifelong problems that need constant medical attention. Among the cases cited by the Litigation Authority's report, 314 were of babies left with cerebral palsy due to sub-standard practices or care. The biggest single payout of 7.1million pounds was awarded to 10 year-old Harry Snowdon. Medical negligence during his birth resulted in him suffering such severe brain damage that will require 24-hour care for the rest of his life.

There are those who will argue that hospitals and medical staff are under enormous amounts of pressure and operate within almost-intolerable conditions. These people consider that compensation payouts serve only to line the pockets of lawyers and deprive others of adequate care. However, those whose health has been ruined by a breach of trust might argue differently. For them, the money involved is not to spend on frivolous purchases; it is to ensure that they are able to lead the rest of their lives with a degree of dignity and, in some cases, to ease the constant suffering that they experience as the result of someone else's mistake. Without these compensation awards, many would have to forgo treatment and, in a number of instances, the victim could die as a result of the injuries they have sustained.

Figures obtained through the Freedom of Information Act have also revealed that 137 cases of brain damage have resulted in individual payouts of more than 1 million pounds, that there have been 15 unnecessary amputations of lower limbs and that 35 patients have been left as either paraplegics or quadriplegics. In addition, other cases of medical malpractice have left patients blind, incontinent or with nerve or spinal damage.

On Wednesday and Saturday nights across the UK, millions of people hope that they are the ones who could be in for a six-figure sum. It's worth sparing a thought for those less fortunate "millionaires" whose lives have been blighted by medical negligence and whose compensation payouts will never make up for the suffering they have endured.