Compensation Culture? Only 0.6% of medical accident victims bother to claim

Bradford - A medical negligence expert today refuted accusations of "a growing compensation

culture" in the UK, citing official figures to show that 0.6% of medical accidents are actually lodged as claims.

Jane McBennett of Morrish Solicitors which specialises in medical negligence claims, quoted authoritative research sources to show that only 0.6% of medical accident victims bother to lodge a claim and only one third of those claims are compensated.

"The NHS Litigation Authority's reports show the number of medical negligence claims annually remains steady at around 5,300. A survey by the Legal Services Commission shows that only one third of medical negligence claims are successful," said McBennett. "The British Medical Journal presents figures showing that 850,000 patient safety incidents' happen each year. Crunching the numbers, only 0.6% of medical accident victims bother to lodge a claim, and only 0.2% of those medical accident victims are successful," she said.

In the lead up to Lord Young's report on his Review into the growth of the compensation culture', McBennett argues that these statistics for medical accidents defy the idea that a compensation culture is growing in this country, especially for medical accidents which can have dire consequences for the victim and their family.

"According to the Public Accounts Committee, up to 40% of near misses' go unreported and the BMJ estimates that 50% of actual patient safety incidents' are preventable," says McBennett. "The estimated rates in under-reporting of medical accidents and 'patient safety incidents' are truly alarming. If these incidents remain unreported, how can the medical staff continue to learn from their mistakes? Surely the relevant health authority should show more willingness to learn from mistakes (by reporting them rather than repeating them) and focus on risk prevention."

Justice

"Preventable medical accidents happen every day," says McBennett. "As lawyers, our challenge is to obtain justice for the victim who has been seriously injured or killed through no fault of their own. This is a real person, with family, friends, and a life that needs to be rectified. This person has a right to equality of arms before the law. New phrases, such as "adverse outcome", "iatrogenic deaths" and "patient safety incidents" come into the language but merely hide the real meaning of what actually happens to real life people."

"Nearly all medical negligence victims want to ensure the same thing does not happen again to someone else," says McBennett. "This is not about a growing compensation culture' or people trying to fleece the system. The process for bringing medical negligence claims is very complex and has many necessary intrinsic checks and balances that weed out spurious claims."

In order for a claim to succeed, the victim must be able to demonstrate that their medical care failed to meet the normal standard of care they could reasonably expect, that they were injured as a result of the failing, and that they suffered losses as a result from their injury.

McBennett points out that medical negligence victims have been genuinely injured while under care that was supposed to help them get better. "It is common to hear or read stories of the so-called compensation culture', but the real life stories we encounter in the work we do for victims paints a very different picture," she says. "For instance, people have had the wrong organ removed, undergone an unnecessary amputation, been disfigured from a botched procedure, or their relative died after being administered the wrong medicine, or accidents with infants whose families must learn to live with the consequences. These people are not trying to get rich. They are trying to get on with their lives."

Lord Young's report to government is expected in the summer.

Ends.

Compensation Culture? Only 0.6% of medical accident victims bother to claim

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