Healthcare professionals within the NHS are expected to uphold certain standards of care during a medical emergency. These standards are in place to mitigate the risks of avoidable complications and provide every patient with consistent, safe care that prioritises their wellbeing and dignity.
This guide will explain healthcare staff’s obligations to you during a medical emergency, and how clinical negligence solicitors could help you make a claim for compensation should these rights be breached.
Your healthcare rights in an emergency
Even in a medical emergency, you have the right to be treated with respect, care and dignity. Where possible, you should be given the opportunity to give or withhold consent and be kept informed about the treatments being offered. You have the right to be listened to – this includes having your concerns, symptoms and medical history taken seriously by the professionals treating you.
You are entitled to receive care that is appropriate to your needs and the situation at hand. This means being treated without discrimination, and with the same level of urgency and professionalism as anyone else, regardless of your age, background, disability, or any other personal characteristic.
What circumstances could constitute medical negligence?
NHS staff are expected to adhere to the aforementioned standards when treating patients during medical emergencies. These measures help to mitigate any additional risk to the person’s health.
When these expectations are not met, and you experience avoidable harm as a result, it may be classed as medical negligence. Examples of potential breaches include:
- A doctor failing to recognise and act on symptoms in time, such as missing the early signs of a stroke, which then leads to permanent brain damage.
- Not making a reasonable attempt to gain your consent before giving treatment, especially when you were conscious and able to understand what was happening.
- Failing to listen to information you or your family provided about allergies, medication or past conditions, leading to inappropriate or harmful care.
- Administering the wrong medication or dosage during emergency treatment, causing harm that could have been avoided.
- Delaying treatment without valid reason, such as not transferring you for surgery when it was clearly needed.
- Providing a lower standard of care due to assumptions about your age, background, or other personal characteristics.
In each of these cases, the issue is not just that something went wrong – it’s that the care provided fell below the standard expected, and this failure led to consequences that could and should have been prevented.
How can solicitors help if you’ve experienced medical negligence?
If you believe that the care you received during a medical emergency was negligent, a solicitor who specialises in medical negligence can help you work through what happened and gather the information needed to build a case.
They may help by:
- Collecting evidence: this could include medical records, expert medical opinions, witness accounts, and any other documentation that helps establish what happened and how it led to harm.
- Communicating with healthcare providers: solicitors can request and review correspondence from the hospital or NHS trust, speak with the professionals involved in your care, and seek further clarification when needed.
- Explaining your rights: they can advise you on the standards of care you were entitled to and whether those were likely breached during the emergency.
- Clarifying the impact: solicitors can help assess how the negligence has affected your health, daily life, finances, and future care needs.
- Starting a medical negligence claim: if there are grounds to proceed, they will prepare the legal case on your behalf and guide you through the claims process, including time limits and legal procedures.
- Instructing independent medical experts: they may arrange for specialists to give an opinion on whether the treatment provided was appropriate and what the likely outcome would have been with proper care.
A solicitor’s role is to help you understand your position clearly and make informed decisions based on the evidence and the law, helping you achieve the level of compensation that is appropriate for your financial losses and suffering as a result of preventable complications.
