Professional negligence is generally regarded as a lack of care by someone who has been trained to a high level of skill in a specific field, which results in an injury or loss. Many people will associate professional negligence with the field of medicine; however, solicitors, barristers, and other professionals can also be accused of professional negligence if they fail to look after the interests of their clients.
Proving professional negligence can often be difficult. The “man in the street” will usually not have a clear idea of what the duty of care might have been, and will just know when things go wrong. In health cases, this could be a misdiagnosis of an illness that is not correctly identified for years – allowing the original illness to develop into something more serious. In legal matters, a compensation claim for professional negligence could arise if a solicitor´s actions (or lack of them) led to other claims for compensation being filed once a statutory time limit had expired.
When determining whether there is a case for professional negligence, experts in the relevant field will be asked by a court to give a professional opinion on whether there were any extenuating circumstances which led to the perceived negligence and if it could have been at all avoidable. Because the result of a compensation claim for professional negligence hinges on opinion, rather than tenable fact, it is always in your best interests to consult with a specialist professional negligence solicitor before making a claim for compensation.
Making a Compensation Claim for Professional Negligence
Claims for professional negligence compensation are always dealt with by a court. The Injuries Board Ireland declines to assess one of the most common type of professional – negligence medical negligence – and will also decline to handle most other types of professional negligence. A specialist professional negligence solicitor will be able to guide you through the processes involved in filing a claim for compensation, and also ensure that any amount offered by the negligent party´s insurance company in respect of an early settlement is a fair and adequate amount to compensate for your physical and emotional trauma or financial loss.
Because of the many different forms of professional negligence, and the numerous scenarios in which they can arise, we have opened a free advice telephone service which you are welcome to call and discuss your particular circumstances with an experienced solicitor. The number to call is 1800 989 995 and our lines are open from 8.00am to 10.00pm seven days a week. As well as being able to ask questions relating to your claim for professional negligence compensation, you will also receive impartial and helpful advice which may help you decide whether it is worth your while to proceed with a claim. All calls to our free advice telephone service are completely confidential, and there is no obligation on you to use our services once you have spoken with us.
Our Promise to You:
- 100% Free, impartial and helpful advice
- 100% Up-to-the-minute information
- 100% Resourceful and accurate service
- 100% Confidentiality and discretion assured
What You Can Expect When You Call
Irrespective of whether your claim for professional negligence is against a member of the medical, legal or other professions, you will find that our experience in handling these types of cases is evident from the start of the conversation.
We will ask you to tell us the exact details of what happened in the context of how it affected you personally. We would also like to know the subsequent impact the professional negligence had on your quality of life.
Wherever possible, we will make a preliminary assessment of your claim for professional negligence compensation, advise you of the likelihood of your success and tell you how long we anticipate the case would take to compile.
You may have questions relating to a compensation claim for professional negligence which have not been covered in our conversation, and you are more than welcome to ask these. However, please note it is not ethical for us to provide second opinions if you have already engaged another solicitor.
We usually conclude each conversation with a summary of what we have discussed and offer a list of options for your consideration. Many of our clients prefer to take a day or two to reflect on our advice, and you are not under any obligation to make a decision immediately or use our services at all.
We would however advise that there are time limits on compensation claims for professional negligence, and cases of this nature may take a long time to construct. Therefore we ask that you do not delay in calling our free advice service on 1800 989 995.
If you would rather that we call you, please complete your details in our call-back box below. Kindly indicate when would be the best time to speak with us and one of our helpful and friendly team will be back in touch.
