General Practitioners

General practitioners are often patients’ first port of call when they have a medical problem. General practitioners are involved in the treatment of a broad variety of conditions and concerns as a result. The centrality of general practitioners in the treatment of such a wide variety of everyday medical concerns means that there are also a wide variety of errors that can occur in a patient’s treatment with a general practitioner which can result in successful medical negligence claims.

Some examples include:

failure to refer a patient for investigations or to a specialist;
misdiagnosis of a condition;
delayed diagnosis of a condition;
failure to diagnose a condition in circumstances where a patient has reported signs and symptoms which should have alerted the doctor to a condition or triggered a request for tests or investigations;
failure to act on abnormal pathology or radiology results.

A key aspect of proving a medical negligence claim against a general practitioner is establishing that the treatment provided by the general practitioner did not accord with peer professional opinion at the time treatment was administered. That is, that the general practitioner did not provide care which would have been widely accepted by other general practitioners at the time the treatment was provided as reasonably competent. A patient who can show that they have suffered an injury because of a general practitioner’s failure to provide care which was in accordance with peer professional opinion can bring a claim against the general practitioner for damages.

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ARE YOU ELIGIBLE
TO MAKE A CLAIM?

If you have suffered an injury, loss or damage as a result of the medical negligence provided by a doctor or general practitioner you may be entitled to a claim for damages.

A poor outcome resulting from your treatment does not in itself establish an entitlement to claim. What needs to be proven is that your treatment was provided in a negligent manner and that the treatment provider breached their duty of care to you.

WHY ARE BRYDENS LAWYERS THE RIGHT REPRESENTATION FOR YOU?

Brydens Lawyers are the experts in the prosecution of medical negligence cases with a dedicated medical negligence department and panel of medical experts available to give evidence in court against doctors, hospitals or other health care practitioners who have been negligent in the treatment of their patients.

Brydens Lawyers specialise in reviewing medical records, liaising with medical experts and explaining complicated legal and medical issues to our clients in a way that they will understand. This is to ensure that clients of Brydens Lawyers are kept fully and properly informed every step of the way so that they can understand the process and what is involved in the bringing of a successful medical negligence claim.

Brydens Lawyers operates as a ‘No Win – No Fee”, policy which, simply put, provides that if a personal injury or compensation client is unsuccessful in their claim then Brydens Lawyers will not raise a tax invoice for having acted on behalf of the client. That is, if the claim is unsuccessful we do not get paid. More information about how this works can be found on our No Win – No Fee page.

WHAT ARE YOU
ABLE TO CLAIM?

The types of damages available in medical negligence claims can include:

– Non-economic loss which includes damages for pain and suffering;

– Past and future medical expenses and out of pocket expenses;

– Loss of income and any damage done to your ability to earn an income in the future;

– Past and future loss of superannuation benefits;

– Past and future paid services such as home cleaning or nursing assistance;

– The value of services provided to you by family and friends without charge;

– Past and future medical aids and equipment such as wheelchairs;

– Home modifications such as those required to make a home wheelchair accessible;

– Vehicle modifications;

– Additional costs incurred in connection with continuing disabilities, for example, additional cost of holidays due to special needs;

– A contribution towards your legal costs and disbursements.

Damages are very specific to each individual’s situation and assessing your claim for damages will be a central part of the service provided to you by our medical negligence team.

WHEN SHOULD YOU CONSULT A LAWYER ABOUT MAKING A CLAIM?

If you have suffered from any form of medical negligence then you need to engage proper legal advice and representation. There are strict time limits around lodging a medical negligence claim, so even if your treatment is ongoing, you must consult a legal representative early to ensure your claim is lodged within the allowed timeframe.

WE DO MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE CLAIMS WELL. HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES:

Our client suffered a severe exacerbation of her pre-existing psychological condition because of the mismanagement of her miscarriage by her general practitioner. She was entitled to claim for her pain and suffering, past and future out of pocket expenses and past and future loss of income.

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