Medical negligence litigation in Britain: current flaws and possible alternatives

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Hoyte, Patrick

Affiliations: The Medical Defence Union, 192 Altrincham Road, Manchester M22 4NZ, UK

Abstract: The increase of litigation against doctors in Britain has drawn attention to the serious deficiencies in the current machinery of litigation as a means of providing a remedy to the iatrogenically damaged individual; nor is the process sufficiently effective, efficient or fair. Consideration of alternative means of dealing with medical injury, as they have been developed in New Zealand and Sweden, lead to the conclusion that serious consideration should be given to the introduction in Britain of a no-fault compensation scheme despite some of its inherent deficiencies.

Keywords: Medical injury, Litigation, United Kingdom, No-fault compensation

DOI: 10.3233/JRS-1994-6107

Journal: International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 57-70, 1994