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We trust healthcare professionals to take reasonable steps to identify and manage our welfare. But when symptoms are overlooked or errors are made, the wrong diagnosis can have serious consequences on your health.
If you or someone you love was misdiagnosed, our solicitors are ready to fight for your right to justice. For over 30 years, we have secured settlements worth up to £400,000 in compensation for clients affected by delayed or incorrect diagnosis in Essex and East Anglia, providing the security you need to move forward from your experience.
Do you have a misdiagnosis claim?
The human body is complex, and it is unreasonable to expect healthcare professionals to get diagnoses right every time. But when negligent actions or inactions cause a preventable misdiagnosis, the impact can be life-altering.
From misplaced test results to misread scans – if you suffered due to a medical misdiagnosis, we have the experience and expertise needed to support your claim from start to finish, so you can understand what went wrong and secure your financial future.
The specialist misdiagnosis claims solicitors for Essex & East Anglia
Since 1993 we have fought for people affected by misdiagnosis across Essex and East Anglia, achieving settlements in excess of £400,000 for our clients.
By leaving no stone unturned when investigating your claim, our misdiagnosis claims solicitors get the answers you need and settle 96% of cases outside of court. With a ‘no win, no fee’ approach, we ensure you can pursue a settlement with zero financial risk, protecting your long-term quality of life.
How much could your misdiagnosis claim be worth?
What does our misdiagnosis claims process look like?
A free initial consultation
Call us, request a callback or complete our online form and we’ll assess if you have a valid medical negligence claim.
Funding your claim
Discover the ways we can fund your claim without you paying a penny at any stage of the process.
Investigating evidence
We gather medical records, witness statements and more to learn what happened to you and prove your claim.
Instructing independent medical experts
We work with impartial, experienced medical experts to establish whether your injuries were due to substandard medical care.
Valuing your claim
We assess your health and financial losses to accurately estimate how much compensation your claim is worth.
Presenting your case
We contact the Defendants and the Courts on your behalf to set out your allegations and receive a response.
Negotiating a settlement
We work to achieve a fair settlement for you outside the courtroom – this is how 96% of our cases end.
Preparing for Trial
If we must proceed to Trial, we fully prepare you for what to expect so you receive the right result in court.
FAQs about misdiagnosis claims
What is a medical misdiagnosis?
A medical misdiagnosis is when a healthcare professional makes an error in identifying a patient’s health condition, which can result in incorrect or delayed treatment, or cause harm.
Broadly speaking, a medical misdiagnosis falls into one of three categories:
- Incorrect diagnosis, where a doctor diagnoses their patient with the wrong condition
- Late diagnosis, when there is a delay in determining the patient’s condition, causing prolonged suffering
- Failed or missed diagnosis, where a doctor fails to diagnose a health condition altogether, despite their patient’s symptoms
Doctors, nurses and surgeons are expected to diagnose a wide range of conditions and diseases, and to recognise damage caused by accidents to organs and limbs. In addition, they must offer appropriate treatment to their patients or refer them to someone else who can.
Because the human body is complex, healthcare professionals will not get a diagnosis right every time, and the law does not expect them to, whether NHS or private.
However, it is expected that decisions made and steps taken to diagnose and treat patients should be ‘reasonable’, and comparable to how other doctors or health professionals would act in a similar situation.
How do I prove my misdiagnosis was due to medical negligence?
To prove your misdiagnosis was due to medical negligence, you must establish:
- Breach of duty: The healthcare professional who misdiagnosed you owed you a duty of care.
- Damages: The harm you experienced resulted in tangible damages, such as pain, injury or financial loss.
- Causation: The breach of duty must have directly caused the damages you sustained.
In misdiagnosis claims, we must also consider whether the misdiagnosis had a tangible impact on:
- Your ongoing health and wellbeing
- The treatment options available to you
- Your long-term prognosis
When we investigate a misdiagnosis case, we speak to relevant, impartial medical practitioners to clarify whether the actions or inactions of a healthcare professional were reasonable. If these experts determine that the professional breached their duty of care, this can lead to a misdiagnosis compensation claim.
It is important to clarify that ‘substandard’ care is not the same as ‘suboptimal’ care. For a healthcare professional to breach their duty of care, their actions or inactions must be something that no reasonable professional in their position would have done.
For example, if a condition is often misdiagnosed, a misdiagnosis may be considered reasonable.
Where do I start with a misdiagnosis claim?
To start your misdiagnosis claim, we recommend reaching out to an experienced, specialist medical negligence firm such as Gadsby Wicks.
Choosing a specialist solicitor ensures your claim receives the attention it deserves, increasing your chances of a fair, successful settlement, whether you are claiming against an NHS trust or a private practitioner.
At the start of your claim, we will work with you to establish what happened, and thoroughly investigate all available evidence, such as:
- Complaint correspondence
- Medical records
- Witness statements
- Photographs
- Independent medical opinion
- Financial evidence
We will speak with impartial medical experts with a good understanding of our legal tests to establish whether you have a strong case for a viable negligence claim, and determine how your circumstances have changed due to your misdiagnosis to calculate the right compensation.
With a reputation for being one of the best law firms to handle misdiagnosis cases, we will be with you at every stage of the claims process, and can provide our services on a ‘no win, no fee‘ basis. This means our payment is recovered from your compensation – if your claim is unsuccessful, you pay nothing.
If you would like to discover how we have supported clients in the past through their misdiagnosis claims and the outcomes we have achieved on their behalf, you can read a number of our case studies below:
How can medical misdiagnosis claim compensation help me?
Medical misdiagnosis compensation is designed to help you get back to where they were before your injuries or, if this is not possible, support changes to their life moving forward.
With this in mind, compensation following a misdiagnosis claim can cover a wide variety of costs, including:
- The cost of necessary treatments
- Loss of earnings incurred while undergoing and recovering from treatment
- Future financial losses due to being unable to work, or the need to change their employment
- Any necessary equipment or aids
- Therapies or support for any psychological harm caused by the experience
- Paying others for services that the claimant cannot perform themselves anymore (such as gardening and household chores)
- Any adaptations required to the home or vehicles
The value of a successful compensation claim will largely depend on the long-term ramifications of the misdiagnosis on the claimant’s life. For instance, if a person’s fractured foot is misdiagnosed and discovered two weeks later, this may well have a lower value than a misdiagnosis of breast cancer that continues for several months.
For instance, we achieved a settlement of £130,000 for a client who required anti-coagulation therapy for several months and must take heparin prophylaxis for any travel of more than 4 hours following delayed diagnosis of HELLP syndrome.
How long do misdiagnosis claims take to settle?
In most cases, we expect a misdiagnosis claim to take between two and five years to reach a final settlement.
This will vary depending on the stance taken by the Defendants, and how long it takes medical experts to determine an accurate prognosis.
As highly experienced misdiagnosis claim solicitors with a long history of managing these types of claims, we will inform you early in your claim how long we anticipate it taking to reach a final settlement.
How long do I have to make a misdiagnosis claim?
As is the case for all medical negligence claims, there is a set time limit of three years from when the injury is realised for someone to make a misdiagnosis claim.
There are some exceptions to this:
- Children have until their 21st birthday
- There is no time limit for anyone who is mentally incapacitated
- If the client dies during their claim, the three-year limit restarts from their date of death
Misdiagnoses can have serious consequences. In some cases, they may lead to conditions such as Brain Injury Claims, Cancer Claims (including Lung Cancer Claims or Skin Cancer Claims), Sepsis Claims, or Meningitis Claims if the early signs are missed.
In situations where someone isn’t aware they have been misdiagnosed until months or years later, the date of knowledge ensures the three-year time limit only begins when a claimant should have reasonably suspected they had been misdiagnosed – not when the misdiagnosis happened.
Furthermore, even if you have exceeded the three-year limit, we recommend contacting us for a free initial consultation if you believe you have a claim. Each claim is at the court’s discretion, and we have the experience and expertise to advise you on whether your misdiagnosis claim is viable.
Contact our expert misdiagnosis claims solicitors
If you or a loved one received the wrong diagnosis, and it affected your health, treatment options or prognosis – speak to someone about your options. Our team is here to listen and advise you on your next steps.
Lexcel accredited medical negligence claims solicitors
We are proud to be a Lexcel-accredited practice. The accreditation is a mark of quality and comes directly from the Law Society.
A recent assessment described us as a “Centre of Excellence” and we continue to operate to the highest standards across all main areas of our field. These include client care, case management, financial management, structure and strategy, people management, risk management, information management and file management.
Industry Recognised