Most surgeries are performed without incident. However, when something goes wrong, the results can be severe. That’s why we have created this guide to bowel surgery negligence claims.
You’ll find information on important topics including the eligibility criteria in a medical negligence claim, how compensation is calculated and some example scenarios showing how surgical negligence can occur.
At the end of the guide, we take a look at how our dedicated medical negligence solicitors can help eligible claimants and the advantages of beginning your claim under the particular type of No Win No Fee contract they can offer.
You can begin your claim online today. Simply complete our form, and an advisor will call you back at a time that suits you.
Browse Our Guide
- Am I Eligible To Make A Bowel Surgery Negligence Claim?
- Average Bowel Surgery Compensation Amounts
- Common Reasons For Bowel Surgery Negligence Claims
- How To Make A Bowel Surgery Claim
- Why Trust Our Solicitors With Your Claim?
- More Information
Am I Eligible To Make A Bowel Surgery Negligence Claim?
Every medical professional, including surgeons, is expected to provide care that reaches the correct standard. This extends across both public and private healthcare settings. We have set out the eligibility for bowel surgery negligence claims here:
- You were owed a duty of care by the medical professional.
- There was a breach of this duty.
- You sustained avoidable harm as a result of this.
A failure to meet the correct standard of care could include:
- Not sterilising equipment properly
- Performing surgery on the wrong part or area of the body
- Failing to take a proper history from the patient
- Not ordering appropriate tests and acting on the results
- Performing surgery in a competent manner
- Explaining the risks of surgery adequately
If you suffer avoidable harm due to substandard medical treatment, you might be entitled to compensation. Contact an advisor to see if you are eligible to claim.
Average Bowel Surgery Compensation Amounts
There are two heads of claim that compensation may be awarded in successful bowel surgery negligence claims. These are:
- General damages: compensation for the pain and suffering caused.
- Special damages: compensation for financial losses. We’ll look at this in more detail below.
Those tasked with determining a potential value for general damages can use the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) in conjunction with your medical documents. The JCG set outs guideline award figures for various types of harm. We have used the digestive system entries from the JCG in our table here.
Compensation Table
Please be advised that this information is intended to serve as guidance only. The top entry is not a JCG figure.
Type of Harm Caused Severity Guideline Award Figure Notes
Multiple Instances of Very Serious Harm with Special Damages Very Serious Up to £500,000 + Cases where very serious harm has been caused as well significant special damages including lost pay, care costs, medical expenses and other bills.
Bowels Double Incontinence (a) Up to £224,790 Total loss of natural bowel and bladder function with additional complications.
Total Loss of Function (b) Up to £183,190 A complete loss of bowel function and dependence on colostomy.
Passive Incontinence (c) In the region of £97,530 Typically after surgery causing embarrassment and distress.
Severe Abdominal Injury (d) £54,420 to £85,100 Severe injury to the abdomen causing functional impairment and requiring temporary colostomy.
Penetrating Injuries (e) £15,370 to £29,870 Penetration of the bowel causing some permanent damage but eventual return of natural function.
Digestive System Severe Damage (a)(i) £52,490 to £75,550 Severe damage to the digestive system with continuing discomfort and pain.
Serious Non-penetrating Injury (a)(ii) £20,490 to £33,880 Non-penetrating injury causing long term or permanent complications such as severe indigestion.
Penetrating Stab Wounds (a)(iii) £8,060 to £15,370 Other injuries in this bracket can include industrial laceration or serious seat belt pressure.
Special Damages In Bowel Surgery Negligence Claims.
You may also be compensated for the financial harm caused by the poorly performed surgery. Special damages not only cover immediate costs but also future losses, as well as endeavouring to value the impact on your daily life.
For these reasons, special damages payments can be higher than anything paid under general damages. Examples can include:
- Loss of earnings due to absence from work.
- Loss of future earnings if you can no longer work or need to take on reduced hours.
- Transport costs if you are unable to drive.
- In cases where mobility has been affected, you could claim for home modifications such as ramps or an accessible shower.
- Care expenses including support with food preparation, cleaning, caring for dependants and tending any outside space if you can no longer carry out these tasks safely on your own.
Make sure you hold onto copies of any documents that show what losses you have incurred. This can include your payslips, travel tickets, any invoices for work done on your home and care bills.
This section is intended to serve as guidance only. To get a better idea of what your potential claim could be worth, contact our advisors today using the details given below.
Common Reasons For Bowel Surgery Negligence Claims
Negligent bowel surgery can occur for a wide range of reasons across a very broad range of circumstances. Therefore, we cannot possibly cover every eventuality in our guide. Nevertheless, we have given a few examples here. Talk to our team today to learn more about claiming in your circumstances.
Examples can include:
- Errors during a surgical procedure result in your bowel being perforated, resulting in serious abdominal pain and a loss of function.
- Doctors failed to adequately explain that there were viable alternatives to surgery before operating on your bowel. This unnecessary procedure caused considerable damage and ongoing discomfort.
- A failure to correctly diagnose your bowel cancer resulted in delayed treatment. By the time you had received the correct diagnosis, the cancer had spread significantly, and a large section of your bowel had to be removed.
To get a free assessment of the validity of your potential claim, contact our team using the details given below.
How To Make A Bowel Surgery Claim
Talk to one of our friendly advisors to get a free assessment of your eligibility to claim. We examine how our solicitors can support you in a later section but there are few key aspects of the medical negligence claims process we want to examine.
Gather Supporting Evidence
Evidence is a key aspect of the claims process. In addition to proving your healthcare provider caused you avoidable harm, your evidence will also help solicitors determine a potential compensation figure for your claim.
Examples of evidence you could acquire include:
- Medical records showing that your surgery was negligent. You can also acquire records of any additional treatment you had. Examples include doctor’s notes, copies of scans and test results.
- Witness statements from anyone who attended your appointments or saw the substandard care you received. You won’t be taking the statements yourself, the solicitor will do this during the claims process, so make sure you have the up to date contact information for any witness.
- A pain diary that shows how the harm has impacted you.
How Long You Have To Claim
The Limitation Act 1980 establishes a 3 year time limit in most medical negligence cases. Exceptions can apply in the following circumstances.
- Children cannot claim on their own behalf and therefore the time limit will be counted from their 18th birthday. This gives patients who were minors at the time of the incident until the age of 21 to begin a claim.
- Those who do not have sufficient mental capacity to make their own claim will have the time limit paused indefinitely. Should they recover capacity, then the three year time limit will run from that date.
In these cases, a suitable adult can apply to be the patient’s litigation friend and begin the claim on their behalf. You can learn more about the time limits in medical negligence claims by speaking to our advisors.
Why Trust Our Solicitors With Your Claim?
Our highly experienced solicitors have a proven track record of winning compensation for clients. By choosing to start your claim with us, you will be choosing to work with a dedicated and knowledgeable legal professional who will give your claim the best chance of success.
We have set out just some of the things a solicitor could help you with during the claims process here:
- Helping you to gather supporting evidence.
- Keeping you informed of all developments in your case.
- Explaining all the technical terms and legal jargon.
- Negotiating a final compensation figure.
- Communicating with the defendant’s representatives.
- Brining your claim within the relevant time limit.
- Ensuring compliance with any court instructions or deadlines.
While you are under no obligation to use a solicitor for your claim, there are many advantages to having someone with the right skills and knowledge undertaking these tasks on your behalf.
Our solicitors work on a strictly No Win No Fee basis with a particular contract called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This contact comes with some very desirable benefits, including:
- Not having to pay any fees for the solicitor to start working on your claim.
- There are also no fees for that work during the claims process.
- And finally, in the event the claim does not succeed, you will not pay anything for the work done by the solicitor.
Upon the success of a bowel surgery negligence claim, a compensation award will be paid out. Up to 25% of this compensation can be taken as a success fee by the solicitor. However, since our solicitors don’t deduct any from your special damages and The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013 restricts that percentage, you will keep the majority of anything that is paid out.
You can begin your claim online today. Simply complete our form, and an advisor will call you back at a time that suits you.
More Information
You can read some more of our medical negligence claims guides here:
- Learn more about claiming birth injury compensation with this guide.
- You can find out the eligibility criteria to claim medication error compensation here.
- Find out when you could claim for anaesthetic negligence by reading this page.
We have also provided some external resources for more information:
- You can complain about a service or provider to the Care Quality Commission.
- The NHS has published this resource on getting back to normal after a surgery.
- Read the standards of Good Surgical Practice from the Royal College of Surgeons.
Thank you for taking the time to read our bowel surgery negligence claims guide. To get a free eligibility assessment or to ask any questions that have arisen during the reading of this guide, contact an advisor today. Our team are available 24 hours a day via the contact information given above.