Fix legal fees to help protect doctors from adverse compensation culture, MDU says
The Medical Defence Union (MDU) is calling on the government to introduce mandatory fixed limits on legal fees charged by lawyers in medical negligence claims and proposing that the scope of the scheme should be far broader than initially suggested.
Responding to a Department of Health consultation on fixed legal fees, the MDU called on the government to rethink the proposed low limit on the cases the fee-cap will apply to, in order to ensure a meaningful effect on often disproportionate and increasingly unaffordable legal costs.
Dr Matthew Lee, MDU professional services director, said:
“The NHS is being brought to its knees by the relentless and rising tide of litigation. In many of the thousands of lower value clinical negligence claims settled each year, more money goes towards paying lawyers than compensating injured patients and that cannot be right. While previous legal reforms have had limited impact, concrete steps to restore the balance are long overdue.
“The caps proposed are only for claims where compensation paid is between £1000 and £25,000. The cost of these claims is only a small percentage of the total clinical negligence bill and caps at this level would make very little difference to the overall picture. We strongly believe that fixed costs should be applied to all claims settled up to £250,000 to have any meaningful impact.
“In order to avoid over-valuation of claims and inflated costs being paid, the threshold of £250,000 must apply to the final amount of compensation paid to the patient, not the initial estimated value of the claim. We often see speculative claims for many hundreds of thousands of pounds that are ultimately determined to be worth far less.
“Fixed legal costs are only part of the solution to address the adverse compensation environment which is so badly affecting our members’ ability to afford indemnity. We urgently need to resolve the massive increases in compensation awards that will result from the recent cut in the discount rate. And in the longer term, root and branch reform is needed of personal injury law.”
