Medical Negligence Compensation Claims

If you think you’ve received incorrect or inadequate medical treatment from a healthcare professional or medical facility, you may be able to make a medical negligence compensation claim.

A healthcare professional or facility could include hospitals (public and private), doctors, radiologists, nurses, dentists, midwives, pharmacists and allied healthcare professionals, such as chiropractors and physiotherapists.

Some of the more common examples of medical malpractice are:

• Failure to diagnose or delay in diagnosing a condition
• Childbirth Injuries
• Medication errors
• Anaesthesia errors
• Failure to perform surgery with reasonable care and skill
• Failure to warn a patient of known risks
• Failure to or delaying treatment or a referral to a specialist or testing
• Failure to advise and/or treat on test results

In Queensland, three things need to be established to make a claim:

• The doctor or hospital’s treatment did not meet Australian standards;
• The poor treatment resulted in suffering or injury to you, and
• The physical or psychological harm was a direct result of not meeting the required standards.

There are strict time limits in Queensland for lodging a medical negligence compensation claim. You must lodge a notice of claim in the approved form within 9 months after the date of the incident or within 1 month of your consultation with a lawyer in relation to your claim, whichever occurs first. It may be possible to extend this time in exceptional circumstances, for example if the injury or harm was not found immediately.
Usually court proceedings must be commenced within 3 years of the date of the incident, or in some cases from the date the negligence was first discovered.