At Balfour+Manson, we have significant experience in assisting families that have suffered the terrible grief of losing a child. We are here to support anyone who is concerned about the medical care they and their child have received.
If you have concerns about care you have received, you have a number of different options, all with different potential outcomes. Each stands alone, meaning that you do not need to necessarily complete every step.
In the immediate aftermath, you may be offered a debrief conversation with the doctor responsible for your care. The purpose of that would be to sit down and discuss with the doctor the facts of what happened and what might have caused the death. You do not need to have this conversation at all if you don’t want to, or you can ask for it to happen further into the future, when you feel ready to discuss things.
If you have concerns about the standard of the care that you received, you can lodge a formal complaint with the Health Board or management of the clinic responsible for your care. Every healthcare setting will have its own complaints policy, which should be publicly available. Complaints generally need to be submitted within one year of the incident complained of, but this can be extended if extenuating circumstances can be shown.
Your complaint does not need to be in writing, but it can help make sure that the Health Board or clinic understands your perspective. It can be as detailed as you would like; it helps to include a chronology and also a short summary of where you feel your care went wrong. A lot of people use AI to help them prepare a complaint, but these documents can end up being very long and not very focused. Using your own words can be very powerful. Organisations like the Patient Advisory Service and Citizens Advice can help you write a complaint if it seems overwhelming to do it yourself.
If you are not happy with how your complaint is dealt with, then you can forward the response and your original complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO). They will review it all and can make recommendations to the Health Board as to whether they should apologise to you or change any processes.
The outcome of what you can achieve through a complaint is limited – you may receive an apology and an acknowledgement of what has gone wrong in your care, but no financial compensation will be offered through this process.
A complaint may trigger a comprehensive review of your care, known as a Significant Adverse Event Review (SAER). This can be a lengthy process, which is designed to help a healthcare provider understand where something has gone wrong and make changes to try and prevent it from happening again. SAER reports will identify good elements of care and elements of care where things could be improved. Many patients find SAER reports difficult to read as they are documents primarily aimed at helping practice improve within a healthcare setting, as opposed to supporting patients to understand what has happened.
Another option for those affected by the loss of a child would be consult a solicitor to investigate making a legal claim in negligence. A claim needs to be raised in court or settled outwith court before the third anniversary of the death, otherwise the claim will be timebarred. This time limit is generally applied very strictly and, while extensions are possible in very limited circumstances, you should speak to a solicitor as soon as you can before the deadline. There is a lot of guidance online about timebar – the best place to get advice on this serious issue is from a solicitor.
The possible outcomes in a medical negligence claim are limited – if a claim succeeds, the only guaranteed outcome is financial compensation. Most cases resolve without the need to go to court, but there is no guarantee of receiving an admission of fault from the healthcare provider, and unfortunately no possibility of an apology. Money of course will never make up for what has happened, or take away the pain of a loss, but is a recognition of a life-changing failure with a devastating outcome.
If you would like some further advice on your options, we can help. Please contact us on 0131 200 1200 and ask for the medical negligence team, or email us at medicalnegligence@balfour-manson.co.uk
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Michaela Guthrie
Supporting you through baby loss
At Balfour+Manson, we have significant experience in assisting families that have suffered the terrible grief of losing a child. We are here to support anyone who is concerned about the medical care they and their child have received.
If you have concerns about care you have received, you have a number of different options, all with different potential outcomes. Each stands alone, meaning that you do not need to necessarily complete every step.
In the immediate aftermath, you may be offered a debrief conversation with the doctor responsible for your care. The purpose of that would be to sit down and discuss with the doctor the facts of what happened and what might have caused the death. You do not need to have this conversation at all if you don’t want to, or you can ask for it to happen further into the future, when you feel ready to discuss things.
If you have concerns about the standard of the care that you received, you can lodge a formal complaint with the Health Board or management of the clinic responsible for your care. Every healthcare setting will have its own complaints policy, which should be publicly available. Complaints generally need to be submitted within one year of the incident complained of, but this can be extended if extenuating circumstances can be shown.
Your complaint does not need to be in writing, but it can help make sure that the Health Board or clinic understands your perspective. It can be as detailed as you would like; it helps to include a chronology and also a short summary of where you feel your care went wrong. A lot of people use AI to help them prepare a complaint, but these documents can end up being very long and not very focused. Using your own words can be very powerful. Organisations like the Patient Advisory Service and Citizens Advice can help you write a complaint if it seems overwhelming to do it yourself.
If you are not happy with how your complaint is dealt with, then you can forward the response and your original complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO). They will review it all and can make recommendations to the Health Board as to whether they should apologise to you or change any processes.
The outcome of what you can achieve through a complaint is limited – you may receive an apology and an acknowledgement of what has gone wrong in your care, but no financial compensation will be offered through this process.
A complaint may trigger a comprehensive review of your care, known as a Significant Adverse Event Review (SAER). This can be a lengthy process, which is designed to help a healthcare provider understand where something has gone wrong and make changes to try and prevent it from happening again. SAER reports will identify good elements of care and elements of care where things could be improved. Many patients find SAER reports difficult to read as they are documents primarily aimed at helping practice improve within a healthcare setting, as opposed to supporting patients to understand what has happened.
Another option for those affected by the loss of a child would be consult a solicitor to investigate making a legal claim in negligence. A claim needs to be raised in court or settled outwith court before the third anniversary of the death, otherwise the claim will be timebarred. This time limit is generally applied very strictly and, while extensions are possible in very limited circumstances, you should speak to a solicitor as soon as you can before the deadline. There is a lot of guidance online about timebar – the best place to get advice on this serious issue is from a solicitor.
The possible outcomes in a medical negligence claim are limited – if a claim succeeds, the only guaranteed outcome is financial compensation. Most cases resolve without the need to go to court, but there is no guarantee of receiving an admission of fault from the healthcare provider, and unfortunately no possibility of an apology. Money of course will never make up for what has happened, or take away the pain of a loss, but is a recognition of a life-changing failure with a devastating outcome.
If you would like some further advice on your options, we can help. Please contact us on 0131 200 1200 and ask for the medical negligence team, or email us at medicalnegligence@balfour-manson.co.uk
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