According to reports, Australia is a country with one of the highest incidents of medical negligence in the world. Because of such high numbers, some of the biggest and smallest Australian law firms are specializing in practicing this specific niche. Medical negligence appears to look the same as other personal injuries; however, there are strict protocols, as well as, unique definition of what applies as medical negligence, and what not. Because of such acts, medical negligence lawyers in Australia will fight your case tooth and nail, if you decide to take such legal actions.
Source: Faculty of Law
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Medical Negligence Law in Australia
The law in Australia is based on a federal system, and each state or territory has its own legislation. If a certain state or territory doesn’t have legislation on a particular topic, then that is known as common law. Most laws are passed by the government and apply nationally; however, medical negligence applies only to a certain state where it happens, meaning that each state has its own medical negligence law.
Some parts of the country do have the common law regarding medical negligence, and some have legislation. Where there is common law regarding medical negligence, the court doesn’t judge a doctor, but rather there are certain standards which must be maintained. If the standards are not met, then there is a case to be made if the actions taken by doctors are due to medical negligence.
What counts as medical negligence?
There are many acts that count as medical negligence, and medical negligence lawyers in Australia will take your case if some of the following happens:
- Failure to get a proper diagnose
- Delay in diagnosis
- Delay in treatment
- Medication errors
- Prescription errors
- Delayed health care
- Misdiagnosis by doctor
- Failure your doctor to advice on alternative treatment
- Inadequate treatment
- Negligence in surgery
- Inadequate postoperative care
- Failure to disclose risk to the patient
- Wrong side surgery
- Failure to refer patent to a specialist
- Equipment failure
- Failure to properly interpret text result
- Lost records
These are all acts considered by common law, and by most legislation, as acts of negligence.
Source: Nessler & Associates
Compensation awards in the case of medical negligence
There are many reasons as to why you would employ medical negligence lawyers Australia, some of the most common are the opportunity to successfully claim your compensation. The total compensation is not easy to estimate, and the judge will need to be aware of the damages done by doctors, through your lawyer. These calculations can be categorized into two groups; Damages that can be accurately calculated and damages that need to be assessed.
Damages that can be calculated are considered the following:
- In the case of loss of income
- Free domestic care
- Out of pocket expenses
- All medical expenses
- Wages lost
- All traveling expenses
- Special Aid
- Home alterations
- General expenses
- And Cost of paid care
Source: Burnetti, PA
Damages that need to be assessed can be considered the following:
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of amenable employment
- Loss of lifestyle
- Loss of consortium
- Physical loss capacity
- Mental loss capacity
- Disfigurements
- A disadvantage in the market
There are also compensations in the case of wrongful death. These mistakes can happen in the case of surgical errors, GP negligence, and accidents. Emergency negligence can be possible if a certain death is found to be because of the above mentioned, and you can stake your compensation claim.
