Is it difficult to make a claim for swabs left inside a patient during an operation?
If you wish to make a claim for swabs that were left inside a patient during an operation it would be in your best interest to speak with a solicitor who has experience in dealing with medical negligence claims at the soonest possible opportunity. It may be difficult to claim compensation for having swabs left inside you, due to the fact that medical negligence claims in general tend to be complicated. This is because in order to make a successful medical negligence claim the plaintiff must have suffered an illness, injury or the deterioration of an existing condition as a result.
Once you inform a solicitor of the specific circumstances in which swabs were left inside your body during an operation and the medical consequences you subsequently suffered, they will be able to inform you of whether or not you have a viable claim. If your claim is considered to have a likelihood of success, your solicitor will try to establish who the negligent party may have been. To do this, your solicitor will contact everyone in the medical team who was involved in your operation to obtain any relevant medical notes. Your solicitor will then show your medical notes to an independent medical expert who will examine these notes and determine who the negligent part was in your claim for swabs left inside a patient during an operation.
The amount of compensation you are entitled to receive will be calculated by referring to the Book of Quantum. This is a publication that lists a variety of injuries and their claim values based on their severity and permanence. From this publication a base value will be obtained for your medical negligence settlement. If the particular injury or illness you sustained due to medical negligence demonstrated during your operation cannot be found in the Book of Quantum, the solicitors involved in calculating compensation will examine previous claim settlements similar to yours in order to obtain a base value.
This base value will then be adjusted to take into account a variety of factors, such as your age, sex, general state of health prior to swabs being left inside you, the pain and suffering you experienced and the subsequent impact your illness or injury has had on your quality of life, both financially and psychologically. It will also take into account any further surgical procedures that you will have to undergo to remedy the injury or illness you sustained from having swabs left inside you and also to remove the swabs themselves. This may incur more medical expense and cause further pain and suffering; you should be able to claim compensation for this also.
The information provided here regarding claiming compensation for having swabs left inside you is merely general advice and is by no means a substitute for the professional legal advice that can be given by a solicitor who has been informed of your particular situation. Therefore it is advisable that you discuss your potential claim for swabs left inside a patient during an operation with a solicitor at the earliest possible opportunity.