General Practitioner Claims

GPs deal with a wide range of medical conditions and will often refer patients to an appropriate specialist if they cannot help them directly.

If a GP does not recognise a medical condition that requires you to be seen by a specialist doctor or surgeon (such as cancer) or fails to treat a condition, you could be left with long-term effects and disabilities.

GP claims normally involve a failure to act or a negligent action which has resulted in harm to you. If a GP fails to act, they may have failed to diagnose a condition, failed to refer you to a specialist, failed to prescribe the correct medication (or dose) or failed otherwise to treat a condition. GPs see a wide range of problems and have a very large knowledge of different illnesses and conditions. However, when they do miss something, or act inappropriately, there can be serious consequences.

Claims for GP medical negligence include:

• Failure to diagnose a serious condition (e.g. meningitis, stroke, heart attack or kidney disease);
• Failure to refer a patient for investigations into serious conditions (e.g. suspected cancer (cancer misdiagnosis), a heart condition or a fractured bone);
• Failure to examine a patient;
• Failure to investigate serious symptoms;
• Failure to treat a serious condition adequately;
• Failure to visit a patient at home when there is a serious problem;
• Failure to act on a test result which indicates that there is a serious condition;
• Prescribing medication incorrectly (prescription error); and
• Performing badly minor surgical procedures that they are not competent to undertake.

Making a claim against your GP can be very upsetting, particularly as you may have been treated by them for many years. Our team has the experience to deal with your case sensitively and sympathetically as well as to fight for the compensation that your injuries and financial losses demand.

Examples of a delay in diagnosis or a misdiagnosis are often seen in:

• Cancer cases generally;
• Bowel cancer cases in particular;
• Meningitis;
• Brain bleeds such as subarachnoid haemorrhage;
• Bone fractures;
• Heart or vascular problems; and
• Kidney, liver, brain (and other neurological) conditions.

Our team has a wealth of experience in all types of medical accident claims and a sensitive approach to pursuing claims that is frequently commended by our clients and their families.

For further information please see Frequently Asked Questions about Clinical Negligence Claims. We do not charge for dealing with initial enquiries even if we do not take the claim on. This way you can be safe in the knowledge that you can receive expert legal advice about your complaint without committing to any obligations regarding fees. If we consider that you have a claim which is likely to be successful then we can offer you a “no win no fee” agreement.

If you would like to discuss a potential GP claim please contact us on 01273 249200 for a free, no obligation discussion. We are happy to visit clients at home or in hospital if necessary.