Making an A&E claim: Claiming compensation for mistakes in Accident and Emergency departments
Accident and Emergency departments have to deal with a huge variety of injuries and situations, not all of them strictly medical. They often have to do their work under very trying conditions, at all hours of the day and night. Despite these often difficult situations (and difficult patients), the clinicians in A&E are subject to exactly the same legal duty as in other medical environments.
Because of the very nature of their work, A&E staff are often faced with emergencies, and the medical decisions taken in an emergency can often be justified, even when in a calmer situation and with the luxury of time to reflect and choose, they might not be the actions of choice.
The law does not presume to lay down which of several possible courses of action is to be preferred, provided what was done is within generally accepted standards of medical care. The law will not interfere where there is dispute within the medical profession about which particular course of action should be the preferred one, as long as the action taken was reasonable.
A&E staff are also often subject to enormous pressures of time and volume of work and in much the same way, not all cases of delay or choosing one course of action over another, will necessarily be negligent.
However, clinicians do make mistakes which result in the treatment provided falling short of the standards of acceptable medical care. In such circumstances the stress of acting in an emergency, or under pressure, does not excuse the error.
So if you have suffered as a consequence of a medical error within the Accident & Emergency department of a hospital and you would like to know whether you are entitled to make an A&E claim for compensation then speak to the experts.