What is the difference between clinical negligence and medical negligence?

This is a common confusion within the patients about the difference between clinical negligence and medical negligence. But the fact is that both these terms mean the same. Earlier medical negligence was more commonly used term but after the reforms, the term clinical negligence became the official term. You can call it either way as per your understanding or convenience.

What exactly is clinical negligence?

Suppose you were in care of a medical professional for a medical treatment. The treatment which you received was not as per expected standards due to which you suffered an injury or loss which could have been prevented by proper care. This is called as clinical negligence on the part of that medical professional.

There are a few important aspects in this definition and each one of them have to be satisfied for making a successful clinical negligence claim. Let’s go through them in a bit of detail:

1. Expected treatment - This refers to the duty of the medical professional. This is usually pretty easy to establish since it’s the duty of the doctor to treat the patient under his care.
2. Substandard treatment - Next aspect of this claim is to prove that the medical professional failed to provide expected treatment meaning that he breached his or her duty to provide the required care. If this cannot be proved easily then an expert opinion of an independent consultant can be sought.
3. Injury caused - The next aspect is the injury caused to the patient due to this clinical negligence. The claimant has to show or prove the injury occurred to him or her was in fact due to the negligence on the part of medical practitioner and it could not have been avoided even if proper care was taken on his part.
4. Loss to the claimant - The last thing to prove is the loss which the claimant had to suffer. Once it is proved that patient had to suffer due to breach in duty then he can claim for the loss and the compensation can be sought. The claimant can ask for compensation of past or future expenses which he had to incur due to this negligence. These expenses include 'general expenses' which include compensation for the pain and suffering which the patient had to go through. Other type of expense is called 'special damages' which include all expenses like medicines, transportation, doctor visits and other medical treatment.

Making a complaint and time line:

Most of the cases involving clinical negligence are settled out of court. The official body NHSLA receives and settles only about 50 cases in a year. All others are either abandoned by the claimant or settled out of court. If you think that you have been a victim to clinical or medical negligence you should first take advice from a legal solicitor for making a complaint.

The first step should be to officially lodge a complaint with the Complaint manager of the concerned hospital or medical center. This should be done within twelve weeks of treatment or lack of it. This is called local resolution. If there is no substantial response from the hospital within 20 working days, you should get an independent consult review done. This involves a review of treatment and concerned situation by two or three independent professional consultants. If you are not satisfied with any this also, you can go to the NHS Ombudsman which is the final authority to judge these types of cases. This should be done within one year from the date of treatment.

Making claim for clinical negligence or medical negligence could be a long and painful process. Either way, you should take consultation from a legal solicitor during this process since he should be able to guide you through this process.