Medical Negligence Claims

Introducing Osbornes Law Medical Negligence Solicitors

Osbornes Law has one of the UK’s leading personal injury litigation departments. We only represent claimants and have been fighting the corner of the injured party for more than 40 years.

We are proud of our track record in securing multi-million pound settlements for those clients whose lives have been devastated by the most serious injuries due to substandard medical care.

If you have been injured due to a medical accident, you will want help getting your life back on track. That means help from a medical negligence specialist you can trust. One who understands your particular needs and has the skills to deliver the best result. Our job is win your case and to obtain the maximum compensation in the minimum time. But how we go about it will be tailored to you, because it is also about getting the right treatment, rehabilitation and expert evidence at the right time in your recovery. It is about keeping you at the centre of the process without it dominating your life.

We specialise in the higher value and more serious injury cases, but can help with the full range of medical negligence claims: from relatively minor injuries to catastrophic and life changing injuries such as spinal cord damage and brain injury.

Medical negligence solicitor Stephanie Prior heads up the Medical Negligence department. Ben Posford Partner, also specialises in medical negligence claims particularly Cauda Equina cases and spinal cord injuries. The department specialises in all types of medico-legal claims including:

• Birth Injuries to mother
• Birth Injuries to child
• Fatal Claims
• Wrongful Births
• Spinal Injury
• Brain Injury
• General Practitioner Claims
• Fatal Claims
• Inquests
• Requesting and obtaining a second post mortem
• General Medical Claims
• Nursing Care Claims
• Pressure Sore Claims
• Orthopaedic Claims
• Surgical Claims

Our lawyers are accredited by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). Stephanie Prior is an accredited member of the AvMA Clinical Negligence Legal Panel and a member of the Law Society Clinical Negligence Panel. Ben Posford is the elected Secretary of APIL’s national Damages Special Interest Group.

Or as the directories say, Osbornes “continues to build on its success’, fielding a personal injury team that predominantly assists individuals who have sustained serious and life-changing injuries. The team receives instructions in high-value and complex trial litigation, involving severe brain, head and spinal cord injuries, as well as fatal accident claims (Chambers UK, 2020).

“I cannot praise Osbornes as a company enough, especially Stephanie Prior. The way she handled our case which was a law suit that at the time myself and my family had no fight or energy In us to fight as all I wanted was my wife to be back.  I am now a single father raising our daughter by myself due to negligence from one of the biggest medical services in the country. Their understanding and patience was so helpful the way they understood that this was not about the money for us. They took it over and fought for 6 years to get as much evidence together which has truly helped my daughters future only financially as no amount of money can bring her mother / my wife back but the handling of it all was so personal and at times I felt I almost had a new friend and it wasn’t about business for them it was about the principle of what happened. For this I will always remember Osbornes but most importantly Stephanie Prior. Thank you to the whole team and I will recommend you to friends, strangers and family” Mr R

So if you have been seriously injured in an accident or suffered a bereavement caused by the negligence of another, our medical negligence solicitors are here to fight your case and maximise your damages.  We offer “a rare level of commitment” (Legal 500) and will tailor our efforts to you and your circumstances because as well as compensation for losses you will need to secure the right treatment, rehabilitation and support to aid your recovery. We will keep you at the centre of the process of your claim without it dominating your life.

We talk your language

Our medical negligence solicitors and assistants are approachable and speak in plain English, but we also between us speak most European languages, so whether your first language is Polish, Romanian, Spanish, Bulgarian, Hungarian or Slovak you will be able to communicate with us in your native language.

Time Limits for Clinical Negligence Claims

Medical negligence claims are subject to strict time limits which if missed, means you could lose the opportunity to pursue your case forever. This time limit is known as the limitation period.

We would recommend against judging the calculation of your limitation period without expert advice from a specialist solicitor.

The law governing the limitation period is set out in The Limitation Act 1980. In short, you must issue a Claim Form at Court within three years of the date of negligence or the date you first had knowledge of the negligence, whichever is the later.

Calculating the limitation period is fraught with complications so it is important to take legal advice as soon as possible, should you wish to bring a claim. There are particularly complex rules for assessing the “date of knowledge” of the negligence.

The three years can slip by quickly and delaying increases the risk of losing vital evidence.  We would therefore recommend consulting a solicitor ideally no later than 12-18 months after the incident of negligence, to avoid the problems which can be caused by delay and to give your claim the best chance of success.

There are exceptions where the standard 3 year time limit will not run until later, the most common being:

• If someone has passed away as a result of medical negligence, the limitation period is calculated to expire three years from the date of death of the injured person or the date of the Personal Representative’s knowledge, whichever is the later.
• The limitation period for any claim brought by a child (defined as those under the age of 18) does not begin to run until the date of their 18^th birthday which effectively means that they have until their 21^st birthday to issue court proceedings.
• Where the person bringing the claim lacks mental capacity, there is no time limit for issuing court proceedings. Assessing capacity is not always straightforward and solicitors have to tread carefully when determining whether their client lacks the capacity to make their own decisions or not.
• The Court has power to exercise its discretion to allow court proceedings to be issued outside of the limitation period, but this is reserved for exceptional cases and there are very specific criteria set by the courts to trigger the Court’s discretion to allow a claim to proceed out of time.

How our medical negligence solicitors can help?

Call 020 7485 8811 or complete our online contact form.

Our promise to you:

• We will review your negligence claim by advising you on the NHS complaints procedure or other alternative procedure if your case does not relate to NHS care and treatment;
• We provide a free initial consultation and case review;
• We can assist you with any issues that you may have regarding the complaints procedure or that you encounter in obtaining copies of your medical records;
• Our specialist clinical negligence solicitors will advise you as to the best course of action in respect of your case.