How To Make A Complaint About An Unnecessary Surgery And Get Compensation

This guide will outline how to make a complaint about unnecessary surgery, covering the different approaches you might take depending on who provided the care. As well as having the right to make a complaint, you may also be able to seek compensation in a medical negligence claim. Within this guide, we examine who could be eligible to make a medical negligence claim after having surgery that they didn’t need. 

Making-A-Complaint-About-An-Unnecessary-Surgery

Expert Advice On Making A Complaint About Unnecessary Surgery

Additionally, this guide will explore what unnecessary surgery is, including how you may suffer harm. We will also discuss how a legal professional may work out how much your medical negligence claim could be worth.

Finally, we will look at the benefits of instructing legal representation on a No Win No Fee basis, should you want expert advice. Contact one of our advisors today to see if you’re eligible to claim due to surgical negligence by:

Browse Our Guide

  1. How To Make A Complaint About An Unnecessary Surgery
  2. Can You Take Legal Action For Harm Caused By Unnecessary Surgery?
  3. Calculating Payouts For Unnecessary Surgery
  4. Check If You Could Claim Compensation For Unnecessary Surgery With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
  5. Find Out More About How To Make A Complaint About An Unnecessary Surgery

How To Make A Complaint About An Unnecessary Surgery

The question of how to make a complaint about an unnecessary surgery requires different answers depending on where you received treatment. You could have received medical attention from different care providers, and in each instance, who you contact and how you complain may differ.

Below are some of the bodies you could complain to: bb

Can You Take Legal Action For Harm Caused By Unnecessary Surgery?

If you were wondering how to make a complaint about unnecessary surgery, you might also want to know when you can make a medical negligence claim. Medical professionals owe you a duty of care. Within this duty, they must ensure that they provide you with the correct standard of care; otherwise, they could be liable for any avoidable harm you may suffer. 

To be eligible to make a medical negligence claim, you must meet the below criteria: 

  • That you were owed a duty of care
  • This duty of care was breached
  • You suffered harm that would have been avoided had the breach not occurred

One of our solicitors could assist if you have a valid surgical negligence claim and help advise what you should include in your complaint letter. Contact our team of advisors now for a free case assessment.

Examples Of Unnecessary Surgery

Unnecessary surgery is when a patient has a surgical procedure that they did not need. This can happen for different reasons, and we shall explore these below. What is important to remember is that if a patient has unnecessary surgery because a medical professional breached their duty of care and provided a substandard service, then this patient may have the right to seek compensation whether they suffer further harm or not.

  • Due to a negligent misdiagnosis, a patient has an operation they did not need.
  • Following a mix-up of patient files, you suffer a leg amputation that wasn’t required
  • Despite there being less intrusive options, a patient is only given the option of surgery. They undergo surgery, leaving a scarring injury that could have been avoided

Contact our advisors today to find out the validity of your medical negligence claim. They could advise you on how to make a complaint about an unnecessary surgery and pass you over to one of our solicitors if you have an eligible surgical negligence case.

Surgical Negligence Claim Time Limits

To make a medical negligence claim, you must comply with the Limitation Act 1980 time limits in addition to the above criteria. Normally, you have three years from the date of your incident to begin a medical negligence claim. 

However, if you couldn’t have known your surgery was unnecessary until later, the time limit will begin from the date of knowledge. This is when you became aware of (or would have been expected to have known about) the unnecessary surgery you experienced. 

There are exceptions to this general rule. To learn more about medical negligence claim time limits and the validity of your case, contact one of our advisors today.

Calculating Payouts For Unnecessary Surgery

If you succeeded in your medical negligence claim, you could be awarded up to two heads of claim. 

General damages are the first, compensating you for any pain and suffering you’ve experienced due to surgical negligence. In the table below, we have looked at incidents where the unnecessary surgery has gone on to cause further harm, however, just being subject to a surgical procedure you haven’t needed is injury and harm within itself.

A legal professional may seek guidance from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help assign a value to your surgical negligence claim. The JCG is a document that takes compensation brackets and attaches them to injury and suffering, depending on the type and severity. A legal professional will also use your medical report, as they could compare your case with details in the JCG.

Below is a table of guidance amounts from the JCG for different types of harm. However, please note that we cannot guarantee the level of compensation you could receive due to the unique nature of each case.

Compensation Table

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Injury Compensation Notes
Foot £169,400 to £201,490 The amputation of both feet, losing both ankle joints.
£83,960 to £109,650 Amputation of a single foot, leading to the loss of that ankle joint.
Leg £104,830 to £137,470 The amputation of one leg, above the knee, with the level of award dependent on factors like severity of pain and psychological problems.
£97,980 to £132,990 A below the knee amputation of one leg, with the level of compensation awarded depending on similar factors as that of an amputation above the knee.
Bowels £44,590 to £69,730 Severe abdominal injury causing impairment of function and often necessitating temporary colostomy.
£12,590 to £24,480 Penetrating injuries causing some permanent damage.
Bladder £63,980 to £79,930 Serious impairment of control, including some incontinence and pain.
£23,410 to £31,310 Some fairly long term natural function interference but where an almost complete recovery is expected.
Kidney Up to £63,980 Total loss of natural kidney function.
£30,770 to £44,880 Loss of one kidney

Compensation For Financial Losses

Special damages are the other kind of compensation you could receive. This helps recover reasonable losses you have incurred or will in the future due to medical negligence. You should keep evidence of your losses to ensure you don’t miss out on any compensation you’re entitled to.

Evidence you may consider gathering includes:

  • Receipts
  • Invoices
  • Payslips

As part of our solicitor’s service, they could help you collect evidence if you have a valid medical negligence claim. Contact one of our advisors now to find out if you’re eligible to claim for surgical negligence. 

Check If You Could Claim Compensation For Unnecessary Surgery With A No Win No Fee Solicitor

Consider the benefits of instructing a No Win No Fee legal professional under a Conditional Fee Agreement if you have an eligible medical negligence claim and want their expert advice. Doing so would mean:

  • You wouldn’t have to pay any upfront fees to appoint them
  • There wouldn’t be any fees to keep your file moving forwards
  • If your claim was unsuccessful, you wouldn’t have to pay for the services you had been provided.
  • If your claim won, you’d pay a legally capped percentage of the compensation you were awarded, which is only small and known as a success fee

Moreover, our solicitors offer this type of service and have years of experience dealing with similar claims. They’d also only take your case if they thought you had a good chance of success. This means you can take comfort in knowing your medical negligence claim is in good hands. 

To find out more on how to make a complaint about an unnecessary surgery and see if you can claim compensation, contact one of our advisors now by:

Find Out More About How To Make A Complaint About An Unnecessary Surgery

We hope this guide has answered your questions on how to make a complaint about an unnecessary surgery. For more of our helpful articles, please look below.

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