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.
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.