Medical negligence,Are Hospital Payouts £, Similar to Insurance claims?(Reject offer?

katesheet

Question about medical negligence, involving the adult hospital patient to die, due to negligence from the hospital.

An upsetting situation...so to be vague, one area of the patient was not given enough attention (that is to be vague as this is upsetting ) :sad:
and this question is about the payment of the hospital, if the case wins

This main question is about the payout about the hospital to the client, and is a very touching topic,

The deceased has a wife, and 3 kids whom are all over 25 years old..


Now, lets assume the case goes to court, via a solicitor) In this case lets say the hospital accepts liability, and knows they will lose the case, so they admit they messed up.

The question is about the payment paid out for their negligence.

a) The amount the offer of compensation, when they offer it, can it be rejected by the client? on the basis it is too low?

b) If it is rejected then what happens? do the hospital come back with a higher offer? and then it is accepted or rejected?

c) how many times, can it be gone 'back and forward' between the hospital and the client? (in a long 2-3 years case)... ie 4-5 times?

d) Is there an amount of money maximum, (threshold) that the hospital will not go above? (after many back and forwards of offers?)

e) Is there a way to find out what this amount £ is, that they are willing to NOT go above?

f) Is there a website which shows how this procedure works, in detail (in terms of the payments offered)


This main question is about the payout about the hospital to the client, and is a very touching topic, Please try your best with the above questions. Any help is appreciated.


Added - No solicitor has been appointed yet. there are so many to chose from. How to you even decide whom to pick ? and how can you tell whom are are reputable ?

rs65

This sounds too delicate and complicated to be discussed on a forum such as this.

Your solicitor should really be able to answer all your questions.

InsideInsurance

katesheet wrote: »

Now, lets assume the case goes to court, via a solicitor) In this case lets say the hospital accepts liability, and knows they will lose the case, so they admit they messed up.

The question is about the payment paid out for their negligence.

a) The amount the offer of compensation, when they offer it, can it be rejected by the client? on the basis it is too low?

b) If it is rejected then what happens? do the hospital come back with a higher offer? and then it is accepted or rejected?

c) how many times, can it be gone 'back and forward' between the hospital and the client? (in a long 2-3 years case)... ie 4-5 times?

d) Is there an amount of money maximum, (threshold) that the hospital will not go above? (after many back and forwards of offers?)

e) Is there a way to find out what this amount £ is, that they are willing to NOT go above?

f) Is there a website which shows how this procedure works, in detail (in terms of the payments offered)

The complexity of this all is your initial comment of it going to court already. The courts rule on both liability and quantum (value)

a) Yes, the claimant has the option to accept or reject any offer made - though a solicitor may refuse to continue representing a client with unrealistic targets

b) It depends, maybe they come back with a higher office, maybe they wont. It may be put into a Part 36 offer but that depends if the case is already litigated or not

c) As many as they want but part 36 offers are used to closed things down. The law of limitations gives you 3 years to litigate for injury related claims but once litigated the negotiations can continue afterwards before the court case. That all said, for the case of a death it wont go on long after liability has been resolved as methods of calculating losses are fairly prescriptive

d) They may, but death claims are relatively straight forward to value compared to say severe head injuries resulting in long term significant mental disability

e) No

f) probably not in clear english, it is fairly technical

Really your solicitor should be advising you on all of this, it is why you are, in theory, paying them.

Once liability is established quantum discussions dont tend to go on that long because its a fairly prescriptive process in valuing them. You also need to remember that there is no punitive damages in the UK legal systems. The monies due is purely based on the loss sustained and no penalty for the defendants actions that lead to the loss.