It has been widely reported that over the last five years the NHS has been spending more money as a consequence of compensation claims made in response to medical negligence. Newspapers like ‘The Independent’ have seized on the data to criticise the current way of dealing with medical negligence cases. However, if someone has suffered personal injury at the hands of any culpable organisation, a compensation claim does not necessarily seem an unreasonable form of redress. If people lose income as a result of medical negligence, compensation claims can assist the individuals cope with financial hardship.

During the last five years, there have been in excess of 52,000 clinical negligence claims which have cost the NHS in excess of 8 billion pounds. The figures have become part of a political debate and have proven controversial given the size of the UK’s large budget deficit.

Conservative Shadow Health minister Mark Simmonds argued:

“Taxpayers will be rightly angry that hundreds of millions of pounds of their money is being paid out for mistakes in the NHS.”

A Department of Health spokesperson contended:

“If patients do not receive the treatment they should and mistakes are made, it is right that they are compensated and have access to legal representation.”

Whether a taxpayer will actually be angry about the rising cost of compensation claims may depend on various factors. For example, if they or their family have suffered as a consequence of medical errors such as a misdiagnosis or a botched operation, they may sympathise with the position of other victims.