By Danielle Graves. Last Updated 7th December 2023. In this guide, we will look at the factors that influence whether someone could have a valid gynaecologist negligence claim. Gynaecology is the area of medicine that focuses on the female reproductive system. You may have experienced an injury whilst in medical care that has led to you wondering if you could claim for negligent treatment.
Gynaecologist negligence claims guide
We will look at the eligibility criteria for these kinds of claims. This guide will also outline how your medical negligence claim could be assigned a value and what kinds of damages a successful settlement could include.
Furthermore, we will explore the evidence you could collect in support of a claim. We will also look at examples of how someone could suffer harm when visiting a gynaecologist.
To conclude, this guide will look at the benefits of making a gynaecologist negligence claim on a No Win No Fee basis, should you have an eligible case and want expert advice. To learn whether you can appoint a solicitor from our panel, contact our advisors now by:
- Calling us on 0161 696 9685
- Filling in our contact us form
- Speaking with us directly on our website through live chat
Select A Section
- How Much Compensation Could You Claim For Gynaecologist Negligence?
- Eligibility To Claim For Gynaecological Medical Negligence
- How Do You Prove Gynaecologist Negligence?
- What Injuries Could Gynaecological Negligence Cause?
- How A No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Solicitor Could Help You
- Further Medical Negligence Claim Resources
How Much Compensation Could You Claim For Gynaecologist Negligence?
This first section will highlight how much compensation you could receive from a gynaecology negligence claim.
There are up to two heads of claims in gynaecology negligence claims. The first head compensates you for the pain and suffering caused by the avoidable harm that you experienced and is called general damages. The amount you could receive due to injuries caused by gynaecology negligence depends on factors such as:
- The extent of the injury
- Whether any of the injuries are permanent
- The extent to which the injuries have impacted your everyday life.
To help assign a value to your medical negligence claim, a legal professional could look to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). The JCG guides solicitors to help determine the amount of compensation that could be received from medical negligence claims. Your medical reports can also be used to help determine how much compensation you could receive for gynaecologist negligence.
A compensation table, with injuries and compensation brackets taken from the latest guidelines, can be found below. Please note that the first entry has not been taken from the JCG.
| Injury | Compensation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple serious illnesses and injuries plus special damages | Up to £250,000+ | Settlements may include compensation for multiple injuries of a severe nature and related expenses, such as lost income and therapy costs. |
| Reproductive system (Female) | £114,900 to £170,280 | Infertility with an effect on sexual function, depression, pain, anxiety and scarring. |
| £56,080 to £71,350 | Infertility, with no sexual dysfunction, in a young person without children. | |
| £17,960 to £36,740 | Infertility without complications and where the person has children already. | |
| £6,610 to £18,680 | Infertility, where the person never intended on having children, regardless of the incident. | |
| In the region of £10,200 | Failed sterilisation that causes an unwanted pregnancy but there's no serious mental impact. | |
| Lung | £70,030 to £97,330 | Cancer, which causes severe pain and impairs function and quality of life. |
| Bladder | £63,980 to £79,930 | Serious impairment of control, with some incontinence and pain. |
| £23,410 to £31,310 | Some fairly long-term interference with organs natural function but where an almost complete recovery should be made. |
Please bear in mind that this table only provides you with an indication of the compensation you could receive from gynaecological negligence claims. This is because every claim is unique. To learn more, please contact us for free using the above details.
Can You Claim For Special Damages In Gynaecology Negligence Claims
The second head of claim you could receive is special damages, compensating you for past and future losses you experience due to medical negligence.
In gynaecology negligence claims, financial losses you could claim include:
- Treatment and medical costs
- Loss of earnings if you’re unable to work
- Travel costs
To claim for financial losses in gynaecology claims, you would need to provide sufficient financial evidence of the losses. Evidence would include receipts, invoices, payslips and bank statements.
Medical negligence solicitors from our panel could help you gather evidence as part of their service if you have an eligible gynaecologist negligence claim. Contact our team of advisors now for a free case assessment to see if you can claim for hospital negligence.
Eligibility To Claim For Gynaecological Medical Negligence
The important aspect to consider when claiming compensation for gynaecology negligence revolves around duty of care. Every doctor, nurse and healthcare professional has a duty of care to their patients – to treat them to within an acceptable standard.
This is the basis of successful medical negligence claims; you need to be able to show that the actions of the relevant medical professionals went below their expected standard of care.
To make a gynaecologist negligence claim, you must show that:
- There was a duty of care owed to you
- This duty of care was breached
- As a result of this breach, you suffered unnecessary harm
Furthermore, it’s important to note that it isn’t just gynaecological negligence you can claim for. Obstetrics is the branch of medicine that specialises in helping a woman during pregnancy, childbirth and the recovery period. You could potentially claim if you or your baby has suffered injury due to negligence.
Contact our team of advisors now to determine if you’re eligible to make a medical negligence claim.
What Are Examples Of Gynaecology Medical Negligence?
There are various ways in which you could suffer unnecessary harm due to negligent medical care. This harm could include a physical injury, harm to your mental health, worsening of your original condition due to a delayed or missed diagnosis, or any combination of these illnesses and injuries. Gynaecology negligence claims could also be made if doctors or other medical professionals fail to keep their patients informed of the risks and/or side effects of certain treatments or procedures.
Examples of negligence that could occur in gynaecology include:
- Injury to other organs during surgery, such as bladder and bowel perforations.
- Misreading test results, such as from a cervical smear.
- Failing to refer for further tests or treatments following an abnormal test result. For example, failing to follow up an abnormal smear test could result in cancer spreading.
- Performing unnecessary surgery, such as a hysterectomy.
- Inadequate post-surgery care leading to an infection.
- Misdiagnosis due to a gynaecologist failing to consider all the symptoms their patient told them about.
Please get in touch to discuss the circumstances behind the incident that caused you to suffer unnecessarily or anything else to do with making medical negligence claims.
Is There A Time Limit When Making A Gynaecology Negligence Claim?
As well as satisfying the eligibility criteria to make a medical negligence claim, you must also adhere to the Limitation Act 1980 time limits. In most cases, you will have three years from the incident to begin your medical negligence claim.
However, if you were only aware at a later date that the injury was caused by medical negligence, the time limit for a gynaecology negligence claim would begin from the date of knowledge.
Also, if an individual lacks the mental capacity to claim compensation themselves, the courts could appoint a litigation friend to pursue the case. They can start a claim at any point because the time limit is suspended. Yet, if the individual regained mental capacity and a claim for gynaecology medical negligence had not yet been made, the three-year time limit would start from the date capacity was regained.
Furthermore, if the claimant is under 18, the courts could appoint a litigation friend. No time limit would apply whilst the claimant is not yet an adult. If the claimant reached their 18th birthday and no claim had been made, they’d have three years in which to begin proceedings themselves.
If you would like to speak with someone about the time limits that apply to a compensation claim, get in touch with our team today. They could connect you with a lawyer who could assist you in making a gynaecology claim.
How Do You Prove Gynaecologist Negligence?
When making a medical negligence claim, you must prove that you suffered unnecessary harm due to a medical professional not providing you with the minimum standard of care expected from them. Evidence is crucial in gynaecology claims, as it is with clinical negligence claims in general. Some examples of evidence you could use include:
- Your medical records
- Photographs of your injury
- Notes regarding your treatment and recovery
- Witnesses
In some cases, the Bolam test might be used. This test can help determine whether the medical attention you received was of an acceptable level by asking medical professionals if the correct standard of care was applied. If the test is deemed appropriate for use in your case, it will be arranged for you.
Another important aspect of gynaecological negligence claims revolves around the independent medical assessment. Your solicitor will arrange for you to have this assessment to get an independent report, highlighting the injuries you have sustained and how badly you have been impacted. This can be important evidence in gynaecology negligence claims.
Contact our team of advisors today to find out the validity of your case. If eligible, a solicitor from our panel could help build an evidence portfolio as part of their service to assist with your gynaecologist negligence claim.
How to make gynaecology negligence claims
What Injuries Could Gynaecological Negligence Cause?
Gynaecologist negligence occurs when a patient suffers unnecessary harm due to a medical professional not providing them with the minimum standard of care they’re entitled to. Below we provide examples of how you could suffer harm when you visit your gynaecologist.
- You could have a contraceptive coil fitted to stop you from becoming pregnant. However, there is a complication during the procedure, and you suffer a ruptured uterus as a result.
- You may go for a routine gynaecology check-up, and during the appointment, your gynaecologist fails to spot potential signs of cancer. Due to the cancer misdiagnosis, it spreads to your liver and lungs and you require a hysterectomy.
- You could need a hysterectomy, but you experience an injured bladder because the surgeon’s scalpel slips.
To discover if you could be connected with a solicitor from our panel, contact an advisor from our team today.
How A No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Solicitor Could Help You
You may want legal representation when making a gynaecology negligence claim. If so, consider instructing a No Win No Fee legal professional who offers a Conditional Fee Agreement.
Working with a legal professional on this basis would mean:
- You wouldn’t have to pay any legal fees to begin working with them
- You wouldn’t be required to pay any ongoing fees to keep your file progressing
- If your claim won, you’d pay a success fee, a small percentage of the compensation you receive which is legally capped
- If your claim didn’t succeed, you wouldn’t have to pay a success fee
Our panel of solicitors offer their services under a Conditional Fee Agreement. They have years of experience dealing with similar types of claims. They are also approved by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Moreover, they’d only take on your file if they believed it had a good chance of success, meaning your time would be used effectively with them.
Contact our team of advisors now to see if you can work with a solicitor from our panel on your gynaecologist negligence claim by:
- Calling us on 0161 696 9685
- Completing our contact us form
- Speaking with us directly on our website through live chat
Further Medical Negligence Claim Resources
We hope this guide has answered any questions you may have had on making a claim due to gynaecologist negligence. For more of our guides, please look below:
- What is the average payout for cancer misdiagnosis?
- How to claim compensation due to GP negligence
- Claiming compensation due to a stroke misdiagnosis
- How to claim for cosmetic surgery negligence
- Making a dermal filler claim
- This guide covers birth bone injuries, if your child has suffered in this way as a result of medical negligence then we can help.
For some external resources, please look here:
- Causes, diagnosis and treatments for vulval cancer – An NHS Guide
- The NHS Constitution – A Guide from Gov UK
- Contraceptive information surrounding the Intrauterine device (IUD) – A guide from the NHS
Written by WG
Edited by FS