Huge rise in medical negligence claims

Legal advisers to half of Britain's doctors have calculated that their compensation payouts to patients for medical negligence have risen more than 2,000-fold in 50 years.

The Medical Defence Union said last night that the annual bill went up from £34,472 in 1952 to nearly £78m in 2000, the last year for which figures were available.

In the year the Queen ascended the throne, the highest single sum the MDU paid out was £12,000 to a draughtsman for the loss of his left leg above the knee. In comparison, it paid nearly £4m last year to a child severely brain damaged after a delayed diagnosis of dehydration, and nearly £3m to a child with cerebral palsy in 1998.

Examples of the growth in Britain's compensation culture would have been more startling were it not for the introduction in 1990 of state-funded indemnity to cover doctors's work in NHS hospitals and community care. The MDU still covers GPs' and doctors' work in the private sector, and supports doctors facing disciplinary investigations.

Karen Dalby, the clinical risk manager at the MDU who conducted the analysis, said attitudes towards doctors had changed."Throughout the first half of the 20th century the number of claims received by the MDU could be counted in tens. Now it is many thousands and would be much higher if the MDU was still handling medical negligence claims in the NHS. In 1952, people just did not question that doctors were doing their best and it was exceptionally rare for a patient to complain, let alone sue."

Legal aid and the arrival of no-win, no-fee lawyers, and the way courts calculated costs of future care and awards for pain and suffering, had also added to the size of awards.

But many of the underlying themes behind claims remained unchanged. "Communication problems, delays in or missed diagnoses, and failure to warn of the risks of treatment feature in claims in 1952, just as they do today," said Dr Dalby. 

This article is courtesy of theguardian.