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Dental
Negligence - Stupid Decisions Under The White Light
by
Mumtaz Shah
Whether it's down to the
decaying services being provided by the UK's National Health
Service (NHS) or because more of us are aware of the benefits of
dental surgery, what is indisputable is that there are more
compensation cases for dental negligence than at any
other time in our history.
So, if you have been on the
wrong end of a particularly nasty piece of dental surgery
recently, how would you go about making a dental negligence
claim?
Dental Negligence
Solicitor
Even though some experts
will tell you that the standard for establishing a claim of
negligence involving dental surgery is easier than in other
areas of medical negligence. There are less things that can go
wrong in dental surgery than in hospital surgery, this is still
a very technical area of personal injury law.
As such, top of your list of
priorities following the dental procedure in question should be
a visit to see a dental negligence solicitor. The solicitor
should then tell you whether or not you have a personal
injury claim to make against the dentist who did the botch!
In the event that you cannot
afford a compensation solicitor, don't worry too much about this
as most dental negligence solicitors these days are more
than willing to agree to work for you on a no win no fee
basis.
Basically, under a no win no
fee structure, you will not be liable for the cost of retaining
your solicitor because, should you lose, he has agreed not to be
paid, and should you win, he'll be paid by your opponent.
Establishing Who To Sue
At your preliminary meeting
with your dental negligence solicitor you'll need to determine
who you are going to sue. As, in the UK, we have a dual system
of dental care, between the private sector and the public
sector, with many dentists practicing in both. Before you can
submit your dental negligence claim you need to establish
whether you saw the dentist in the capacity of a patient under
the NHS system, or as a private patient of the dentist.
In the event that you saw
the dentist as a private patient, then in all likelihood you
will not be suing the dentist for compensation, but rather the
dentist's insurance company! On the other hand, if you were
visiting the dentist as a patient under the NHS system, then,
again, you would not be suing the dentist for negligent
compensation, but the NHS itself.
Standard Of Care
Generally the accepted
reasoning is that dentistry is a 'tried-and-tested' profession
where things can only go wrong if the practitioner has made a
mistake. Nonetheless, as with all personal injury claims in the
UK, you will need to establish that the dentist owed you a duty
of care and was not diligent in undertaking his duties.
In this regard, so far as
dental negligence is concerned, any dental negligence claim will
need to show that the dentist did not exercise the professional
standards set by the British Dental Association and/or the
Dental Practice Board.
It's Your Right – Claim
It!
You may feel that a claim
for dental negligence compensation is a little trite –
after all, it's not the end of the world! However, keep in mind
two factors:
• even if it is the case
that the dentist pulled the wrong tooth or gave you a filling
you didn’t need, if you are an adult that tooth will never grow
back and it has gone forever!
• dental negligence does not
only cover the simple pulling of teeth, it also includes complex
procedures such as root-canals and gum treatment. These
procedures can not only be extremely expensive, but also
extremely painful.
Beside that, if you do not
retain a dental negligence solicitor and take action against a
negligent dentist for dental negligence compensation, then the
next person to sit in the same dentist's chair may have the same
experience as the one you just had!
It's easy to proceed with a
dental
negligence claim and
gain maximum results without the hassle, costs and confusion.
Discover the 12 revolutions of dental claims at
http://www.100percent-compensation.co.uk/articles/dental-negligence.html.
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