BMJ  2004;328:457-459 (21 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7437.457

Education and debate

The future of clinical negligence litigation?

¹ Capsticks Solicitors, London SW15 2TT jbc@capsticks.co.uk

The UK's proposed reforms of claims for clinical injury risk fuelling a compensation culture

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

About 7500 clinical negligence claims are brought each year in England.¹ The current system has been criticised by some as complex, inequitable, and expensive in terms of time and legal fee. However, the cost of negligence claims in 2001-2 was £446m,² less than 1% of the budget for the NHS. Last year, the chief medical officer published a consultation document, Making Amends, which set out proposals for a NHS redress scheme that would provide adjudication for certain clinical negligence claims without the need for legal proceedings.² It draws on experience in the United States, New Zealand, France, and Scandinavia, which have similar problems. So how will the proposals work, and what will they mean for the NHS?

The proposed NHS redress scheme will provide an administrative rather than a judicial route for claims up to £30 000 (43 640, $54 420) and claims arising from severe neurological impairment . . . [Full text of this article]

-->
CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Outcomes for births booked under an independent midwife and births in NHS maternity units: matched comparison study

Andrew Symon, Clare Winter, Melanie Inkster, and Peter T Donnan
BMJ 2009 338: b2060. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Making amends for negligence

Paul Fenn, Alastair Gray, Neil Rickman, and Adrian Towse
BMJ 2004 328: 417-418. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

what's the problem?

Bertie Leigh
BMJ 2004 328: 460. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Symon, A., Winter, C., Inkster, M., Donnan, P. T (2009). Outcomes for births booked under an independent midwife and births in NHS maternity units: matched comparison study. BMJ 338: b2060-b2060 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Wheat, K. (2005). Is there a Medical Malpractice Crisis in the UK?. J Law Med Ethics 33: 444-455  
• Fenn, P., Gray, A., Rickman, N., Towse, A. (2004). Making amends for negligence. BMJ 328: 417-418 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

The Problem with Legal Costs

Jay Ilangaratne
bmj.com, 24 Feb 2004 [Full text]

Online poll

Find out more here>> and here>>