Firms specialising in clinical
negligence, such as Alexander Harris, take on major cases on a regular basis.
Clinical, or medical negligence, is an area of the law which can cover a number
of personal injuries or illnesses caused or exacerbated by failures in medical
care. These failures can occur at the stage of diagnosis, treatment or
after-care and can be the fault of individual doctors and nurses or of hospital
authorities as an organisation. The sheer range of cases covered by the term
medical negligence means that firms dealing with this area need to have a wide
range of legal expertise to be able to offer suitable legal support and advice.
Plastic Surgery
One of the less common types of
medical negligence case – but which nonetheless resulted in a big legal action
in the UK – is that of personal injury arising from failed plastic surgery
treatment. The case is question was prosecuted by a legal firm on behalf of a
woman who had been left permanently disfigured as the result of a failed
experimental plastic surgery procedure. The surgery had resulted in significant
permanent damage – including nerve damage on the right side of the face,
leading to uncontrollable facial spasms, in addition to permanent breast
disfigurement and scarring. The surgery had also left the woman with permanent
pain in one of her breasts and had contributed to feelings of depression and
anxiety, which in turn damaged her ability to pursue her career and her
relationship with her husband.
When the case was heard the woman
in question was eventually awarded £6.2 million in damages – with £80,000 of
this being general damages and the remainder being awarded based on a
calculation of the past and future earnings of the business she co-owned with
her husband, had her active involvement in the company not been restricted by
her physical and psychological injuries. This followed an acknowledgement that
these injuries had been caused by medical negligence in the plastic surgery
procedure she had undergone.
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