Has anyone successfully sued the NHS?

[Daven]

Well, what would be the point otherwise?

 

Queue jumping - simple.

[Siân]

Because private is sposebe better quality?

 

Argh! Doctors get their training via the NHS (in this country) there's no special place to train doctors who work in private practice and doctors who are at the top of their field do not get shunted off to work privately! Going private just means not having to wait - chances are you might get the same doctor who was doing NHS stuff earlier that day!

 

So using this logic this hypothetical doctor could cause identical problems for 2 patients in the same day but only the patient who paid for private treatment would be eligible to take legal action & seek compensation.

[Zamo]

As far as I'm aware both BUPA & the NHS would be insured for this

 

Insurance isn't free though and comes at a premium. Insurance is taken out to allow NHS trust to manage their budgets by knowing what compensation payments will cost each year in advance. The insurance company bears the risk of taking a big hit (e.g. a single £10m compensation payout) because they have the financial means to wear it. The NHS pay a premium for this safety net but ultimately it means that in the long term the insurers comes out on top i.e. in a 10 or 20 year period they will collect more in premiums than they have to pay out in compensation.

 

It is indisputable that compensation payments result in less cash for the care and treatment of other NHS patients.

 

Unless of course you're suggesting that the public sector shouldn't pay any compensation due to the loss to the tax payer. With that logic though if a marauding police officer in a police car knocks you over and paralyses you whilst on duty through no fault of your own then you won't be suing for loss of income. You'll just get them to adapt your house & then happily live on state benefits.

 

The difference is that you can't realistically live your life without stepping out into the big wide world. Once we are in the big wide world then we all have some responsibility for our actions and how they impact on others. On the other hand, nobody forces you to use NHS services - you can take it or leave it. If you want want medical treatment with a guarantee of compensation in the event of a mistake being made, then go private. That way you deprive a shareholder of profit and not someone else of care.

[gillybob]

If someone wins damages of £100k from the NHS and legal fess amount to the same then that's £200k that will NOT be spent on providing health care. It ain't complicated is it?

 

We need to remember that life isn't fair. Sometimes we're lucky and sometimes we are unlucky. If your lucky dip ticket won the lottery you wouldn't think it fair if you had to share your good fortune with people who bought lucky dips from the same shop because they hadn't been as lucky. Why then do we expect other people to share our misfortunes?

 

The NHS is a free to use, non-profit organisation. Whilst there of course needs to be accountability, there should also be a non-compensation clause for anyone using the service (except where compensation is needed to pay for ongoing private care as a result of neglect). If people want the option to sue in the event of something going wrong then they should go private. That way the compensation comes from company profits and not at the expense of someone elses care or even someone elses life.

 

we who sue the national health service, aren't taking money directly from the doctors pockets or future patient treatments, the compensation comes from their insurance companies!!!

 

if we want a better service from our NHS than more people should sue them, maybe the NHS board would buck their ideas up and employ campetent specialists.

 

i had to go on line and find a specialist, as i didn't trust the existing NHS private sector in S. Yorkshire. they know each other, and of course they talk, and believe me i know.

 

besides whats all this about, sending patients to other countries to have treatment, "just to keep waiting lists low" and paid by our great NHS, isn't this a "lottery" waste of public monies?

[Heyesey]

we who sue the national health service, aren't taking money directly from the doctors pockets or future patient treatments, the compensation comes from their insurance companies!!!

 

 

...which charge premiums to the NHS, which cuts down on the NHS budget available for doctors' pockets and future patient treatments.

 

 

Come back when you have a vaguely sensible argument to make.

[gillybob]

maybe so, good point, but it doesn't hide the fact that the NHS are capable of loosing "budget" money by themselves, through bad privatisation desisions with their cleaning contracters for one i can recall. MRSA??

[user10239]

gillybob I recommend asking your private physician if they are also employed by the NHS in any respect?

 

This "its not real money, just insurance money" argument is a non-argument. Premiums are calculated by the likelihood of a payout (as mentioned earlier) and if the NHS are being taken to court more often the premium goes up. Not only that but the insurance network is intricately linked, and the potential hit on the whole economy from the "Torte culture" of the US is a disturbing one.

 

I understand you're angry, hurt, upset about your perceived treatment for five years, but was your quality of care bad? Did the drugs they give you not work or cause you horrible side effects? Projecting your anger with a court case and giving some cocky litigation solicitor a big payout to pin up on his wall, is that going to improve the service that other patients get, or is it going to 1)Waste NHS employees' paid time giving evidence for/against the case, when they could be getting paid to actually do their job

2)put another dent in the economic situation of the publicly funded health service.

[gillybob]

gillybob I recommend asking your private physician if they are also employed by the NHS in any respect?

 

This "its not real money, just insurance money" argument is a non-argument. Premiums are calculated by the likelihood of a payout (as mentioned earlier) and if the NHS are being taken to court more often the premium goes up. Not only that but the insurance network is intricately linked, and the potential hit on the whole economy from the "Torte culture" of the US is a disturbing one.

 

I understand you're angry, hurt, upset about your perceived treatment for five years, but was your quality of care bad? Did the drugs they give you not work or cause you horrible side effects? Projecting your anger with a court case and giving some cocky litigation solicitor a big payout to pin up on his wall, is that going to improve the service that other patients get, or is it going to 1)Waste NHS employees' paid time giving evidence for/against the case, when they could be getting paid to actually do their job

2)put another dent in the economic situation of the publicly funded health service.

 

we are off the point a little i think, i can't disclose any real details of my case, but in my case it is clear cut negligence, and thats all i can say.

you build trust with past experiences and of course i am angry at what has happened. i am emotional and that is probably true in most cases who have bad experiences with the NHS.

have you had any such experiences?

i don't think Heyesay has either.....

[Guest Mod_Man]

i injured my knee, and through 5 yrs of scan, pain clinic and neuropathic drugs, i finally was discharged to find out the NHS had misdiagnosed my knee condition and i had to go private to London to have a major operation.

 

You hurt your knee, how did they misdiagnose you? Head injury?

 

funny really, as if it hadn't been for my dad paying thousands for the op, i would not be here today, as i would have taken my life. that sounds so pathetic, but i couldn't walk, couldn't sleep and couldn't function in a normal life, i was in that much pain daily for 5 yrs

 

Are you suggesting that in five years the NHS didn't do anything to correct the situation? Are you sure you were in that much pain for five years, five years, I'll type that again, were you in that much pain for five years and the NHS did nothing to help you?

 

 

(taking 28 concoctions of meds every day) i found comfort in the thought of death being a welcome end to it.

i knew that something wasn't right, but NHS said it was all in my mind. i was desparate!

now i can sue them as i have the much needed evidence.

 

28 concoctions for the pain, isn't that more than terminally ill patients get in their final days?

 

How did you hurt your knee by the way?

[Guest Mod_Man]

can any one answere this then, i worked all my life, paid my taxes, and my NI, so when the NHS who promise to treat me to a standard, with all their medical experience (paid wages by all taxpayers) but do not finish the job and i have to go else where to get the job finished so to give me a good quality of life!!! why should they get away with this. i put my faith in them diagnosing and treating my problem....

i paid in the first place to get this treatment. so no, "misdiagnosis" is not an option. pass me to someone else for god sake, who does know what they are doing. isn't there enough specialists in the NHS?

 

Can you explain why people who work all there life and pay taxes have to pay you for what sounds like nothing more than bad luck, you haven't told us how you hurt your knee yet?