fund a medical compensation claim
Get advice by a specialist medical lawyer for
medical compensation
There are various ways to fund a medical
compensation claim for clinical negligence which you may be
eligible for.
Public funding / Legal Aid
If you are on a low income and do not have a lot of
savings or capital then you may be able to apply for Legal Aid. We
will check whether you qualify financially and will fill in the
forms to apply for Legal Aid if appropriate. Normally you have to
have made a complaint about your treatment first.
Some people have to make a capital and/or monthly contribution
towards their Legal Aid. If you do have other ways of funding your
case the Legal Services Commission will expect you to use them. For
example, some people have legal expenses insurance.
It is helpful if you provide us with documents that confirm your
income and expenditure as well as any savings.
Legal expenses insurance
Some insurance policies, particularly household building and
contents policies, include cover for legal expenses to investigate
a clinical negligence claim. You need to check any policies that
you have to see if you might be covered. Many policies contain time
limits to report a possible claim.
It is important to check your insurance policies as soon as
possible after you have had problems with treatment. If you do not
do this, you may find that the insurer will not pay for a claim to
be investigated because you are too late in reporting the possible
medical claim to the insurance company.
No win no fee
Unless your case is very clear cut it is often not possible to
enter into a no win no fee agreement at the start of the
investigation. Once we can assess your case fully we will consider
this type of agreement in cases where there are no other ways of
funding the medical compensation claim.The no win no fee agreement
covers our costs but not the costs of the other side or fees that
we have to pay to other people such as the court or medical
experts.
We may recommend you take out insurance to protect you against the
risk of having to pay the other side's costs (again this is not
covered in the no win no fee agreement). Sometimes this insurance
premium can be deferred so it is not paid until the end of the
case.
Trade Union
If you are a member of a
Trade Union or similar
organisation then check whether your union can help you with legal
expenses for your medical compensation claim. Otherwise, contact
Walker Smith Way Solicitors for free initial advice from one of our
medical
lawyers.
You might want to check our
Dental Negligence Claim
section.