Making a claim - the legal theory

To be successful in a claim for medical negligence you need to prove that the treating doctor or other health professional breached the duty of care that they owed to you and that this breach caused you to suffer injury.

Breach of duty

In order to prove that the health professional was in breach of their duty it is necessary to show that the treatment provided did not meet the standard of a reasonably competent doctor or practitioner in that particular field of expertise.  The doctor who treated you does not have to be the best in his field, but he must not be the worst.

The cause of the injury: "causation"

This is often the most difficult part of the claim to prove.  If it can be proved that the doctor was in breach of his duty of care, it must then be shown that it was that breach which directly caused the injury or was a major contributing factor towards the injury. 

Email our clinical negligence team.