There are very strict time limits for intimating a claim in all cases of personal injury.

Generally a claim must be raised in court and served upon the defender within three years of you becoming aware that you had a claim. These time limits do not apply to children.

Knowledge of a claim includes you having the knowledge or awareness of your injury; who caused that injury and that the injury was caused by negligence. Negligence can generally be defined as an act or omission which has caused loss or injury and has been caused by a failure to adhere to a reasonable duty of care.

Computing the three year period is usually a straightforward matter but can be complex in certain circumstances.

If an action is not raised and served on the defender within the three year time limit it is likely that you will lose the right to claim damages. The court can extend the three year period but will only do this in very limited circumstances.

If you believe you may have a claim arising from medical negligence please contact us by telephone or by e-mail to arrange a free initial consultation.

In order to establish whether a relevant medical negligence claim exists we will consider all of the evidence and ask an appropriate expert to comment on your care and treatment.

Generally, the test for negligence in medical negligence cases is where the medical practitioner has deviated from normal practice and acted as no other practitioner would have and thus caused injury.

Assessing whether there has been medical negligence requires an expert to assess your treatment and care. In order to carry out this assessment the medical expert requires your medical notes and any other supporting documentation relating to your treatment.

Once the expert has this information he assesses your case against the normal practice of a relevant medical practitioner. Where the practitioner has deviated from the normal practice (and caused the injury) and that deviation is one which no medical practitioner would have taken then negligence may be found by the court.

The full test was set out by the Scottish courts many years ago in the case of Hunter v Hanley 1955 SC 200 at 206 in the following terms: -

“To establish liability by a doctor where deviation from normal practice is alleged, three facts require to be established. First of all it must be proved that there is a usual and normal practice; secondly it must be proved that the defender has not adopted that practice; and thirdly (and this is of crucial importance) it must be established that the course the doctor adopted is one which no professional man of ordinary skill would have taken if he had been acting with ordinary care.”

As it can be seen establishing a case of medical negligence requires takes time. As the law imposes strict time limits on making a compensation claim in Scotland then we would encourage you to contact us as soon as possible in order to avoid losing your right to a compensation payment.

If you believe you may have a claim arising from medical negligence please contact us by telephone or by e-mail to arrange a free initial consultation.

The care and treatment we all receive in the NHS and at private clinics is often exemplary and the outcome a good one. Sometimes however medical accidents do occur and for reasons of negligence.

Negligence in a clinical setting can arise from a number of situations. Perhaps the most common example of clinical negligence is where there has been a failure to diagnose an illness and that failure has resulted in a poor outcome for the patient by way of a delay in treatment or a lost opportunity to treat. Other examples of medical negligence include prescribing the wrong medication or not warning of the risks of certain treatment; carelessly performing surgical procedures or carrying out a procedure without the necessary experience.

Clinical negligence can also arise from an institutional failure to provide proper care. For example where blood samples are lost; where essential follow up appointments are not made; where a hospital has failed to inform a GP of a necessary treatment regime and where a hospital exposes a patient to infection.

Medical negligence is not limited to the medical profession but includes nurses, midwifes and other professionals allied to medicine.

At Oracle Law, our lawyers and solicitor advocates have many years experience acting for patients who have suffered medical accidents through negligence. If you believe you may have a claim arising from medical negligence we would be happy to hear from you. Please contact us by telephone or by e-mail to arrange a free initial consultation.

In Scotland, occupiers of land and buildings have a general responsibility to take care for the safety of visitors to their premises. Visitors include those invited and those who are unwanted. The duty of care towards visitors is a reasonable one. In other words, the law does not require all steps to be taken to ensure visitors safety, just reasonable steps.