StarBar Organics

As a secretary, making mistakes at work might mean sending the wrong letter to someone, a typing error or closing a document before saving it. A bad day at work mechanic might mean somebody’s car will be out of use for a little while longer than anticipated. For a chef, a mistake might mean that table seven must wait for their starters an extra 15 minutes. But for a surgeon, a bad day at the office might mean somebody needlessly loses their life.

The £6 billion accident claims industry in the UK involves a large number of medical negligence claims. In 2005, the Commons Public Accounts Committee released statistics highlighting the fact that up to 1 in 10 suffered negligence while under the care of the UK’s National Health Service.  The same study estimated that as many as 2000 people die each year as a direct result of NHS medical negligence. The actual numbers, it is feared, could be much higher than the statistics we are able to record.

But should somebody be able to claim compensation for someone else’s mistake or negligence at work? The “compensation society,” has been tainted with media stories of people faking accident claims, trying to sue when their accidents were their own fault or even going looking for opportunities to make a compensation claim. But the accident claims industry, when all procedures are carried out as they should be, serves a valid purpose. It achieves much owed compensation for victims of accidents or illnesses brought on by the fault of someone else. Should medical negligence come under this bracket? Absolutely.

While it may seem shocking for the NHS to have to pay out millions each year because of mistakes made by its doctors, the fact remains that the NHS has a duty of care to the British population, part of which involves ensuring that its doctors are working at their best at all times. Irrespective of why a mistake was made, if someone dies as a direct result of a mistake made by a medical professional, the family of that individual deserve compensation.

The system is, like any other system, open to abuse. But the time that critics invest in slating the system as a whole could be much better put to use in assisting in formulating guidelines to minimise such abuse as far as is possible.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 2:04 pm and is filed under Organic Drinks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.