Following a medical operation I was required to take prescription drugs every day for a period. However this resulted in me sustaining severe liver damage. Can I claim liver injury compensation as medical negligence* against my doctor or against the drug company?
Whether your doctor or the manufacturer of the drug is liable for liver injury compensation will depend on which of the two has been negligent towards your health and safety. On one hand, you may have a claim to medical negligence* against the doctor who prescribed the medication to you in the first place. It is possible that the doctor showed a degree of disregard towards your medical history and failed to notice that you were vulnerable to liver damage. It is also possible that the doctor did not perform an adequate risk assessment before prescribing the medication to you. This would be the case if — for instance — the dosage was miscalculated, potential side effects were not taken into account or possible contraindications were ignored. If this has occurred, the doctor would be liable due to medical negligence*, which would be determined by considering whether the doctor had been in breach of their duty of care “in the circumstances at the time”.
It is possible that the liver injury compensation will be pursued against the manufacturer of the drug in the situation where the doctor had followed all the necessary steps before prescribing the drug to you. If you were not previously susceptible to liver damage, it is again possible that the claim will be made against the drug’s manufacturer.
Once you have been diagnosed with liver damage you will have three years from the date of knowledge in which to make a claim for compensation against the liable party, whether this is the doctor or the manufacturer of the drug. A case for medical negligence* such as this may take some time to prepare, as your medical records will need to be studied in great detail. Because of this you are advised to contact a personal injury* solicitor at the earliest opportunity to determine your eligibility to claim compensation and to explain the details of your claim. By doing so, the liability for your liver injury compensation claim can be established and whether your claim is worth pursuing.