GP negligence occurs when your doctor or GP fails to provide you with care that meets a reasonable standard expected from a competent medical professional.
This lack of sufficient care may have significant repercussions, including a delay in recovery or even additional harm or injury. Misdiagnosis can be very harmful, delaying appropriate treatment and can lead to incorrect treatment. With serious illnesses such as cancer or meningitis, a misdiagnosis that delays early treatment can result in potentially devastating consequences including death.
Errors in prescribing medications can also cause problems, as people have different sensitivities and some medication has the potential to cause serious problems, including allergic reactions or adverse interactions with other medications or health conditions.
There are several situations in which you may be entitled to compensation as a result of GP negligence:
- Misdiagnosis of an illness, leading to incorrect or delayed treatment
- Errors in prescribing medication
- Errors in administering appropriate treatment
- Failure to refer a patient to an appropriate specialist for diagnosis and treatment
- Failure to conduct sufficient testing for diagnosis and monitoring purposes
- Inability to see a patient in a reasonable time frame, preventing diagnosis and treatment
- Insufficient review of test results
- Failure to recognise signs of serious illness such as heart problems and cancer
- Insufficient record-keeping leading to the loss of records necessary for correct diagnosis and treatment
- Negligent minor surgery
