How can I fund a Medical Negligence claim

We are often asked by our Clients at the very beginning, whether a medical negligence case can be funded on a No Win No Fee arrangement. Generally, medical negligence claims are funded in one of the following ways:

Legal Aid

Many people have heard of Legal Aid funding. This is now only available in limited circumstances when it comes to clinical negligence claims, and those are primarily birth injury claims. If you think you may have a claim involving birth injury (for example a cerebral palsy claim one of our specialist birth injury solicitors will be able to discuss the availability of this funding option further with you.

Legal Expenses Insurance

Sometimes insurance policies that you may already hold (such as a home and contents insurance policy or a motor insurance policy etc) will provide cover for a clinical negligence claim.

It is important to check any policy documents carefully to see if you are covered. There are sometimes time limits on reporting a case to your insurers, and so if you think you may have a claim then you should also consider whether you have any pre-existing insurance at an early opportunity.

If you think you may have pre-existing insurance, we can check your documents or contact your insurers to see if you are covered.

No Win No Fee Agreement

These are also sometimes referred to as ‘Conditional Fee Agreements’. A No Win No Fee Agreement means that, if your case is unsuccessful, we will not charge you for the time we have spent working on it. If, on the other hand, your case is successful then we will seek to reclaim our costs for the work we have done from the Defendant, with a percentage deduction from a limited part of any damages that you are awarded (this deduction is subject to a set limit which will be discussed with you at the outset).

It is important to note that, where medical experts are instructed in a case, they are not allowed to work on a No Win No Fee basis in order to preserve their impartiality. Their fees (and any other fees incurred as the case progresses, such as fees for obtaining medical records and court fees) therefore need to be paid as they arise. These costs are known as ‘disbursements’.

We are able to offer a funding facility which will cover the costs of the disbursements in your case until the end of your claim, at which point they will generally either be paid by the Defendant (if your case is successful) or by an insurance policy we will put in place for you to cover you against any adverse risk (if your case is unsuccessful). In that way, there is nothing for you to pay as the case progresses.

Can I pay privately?

In order to fully and comprehensively investigate a case, we will instruct medical experts to consider the care you have received and the injury you have suffered as a result. Depending on the number of experts that it is necessary to instruct, clinical negligence claims can be expensive to pursue. For that reason the majority of cases are funded by one of the methods discussed above, and people do not tend to fund clinical negligence cases on a privately paying basis.

If you have any queries about funding a medical negligence case, or about a medical negligence case generally, then please don’t hesitate to contact one of our specialist team member below.