Medical Malpractice

Wherever clinicians/healthcare professionals operate there will always be a risk of clinical negligence. When that happens, you want your legal team to be the most experienced and agile in the market, and produce the right response for you. DAC Beachcroft leads the field.

As the provision of healthcare fragments away from its traditional delivery models, more and more claims activity will affect commercial entities, private clinics, hospitals, general healthcare providers – and their insurers. Insurance programmes are constantly evolving. DAC Beachcroft brings together the acknowledged market-leading medical malpractice practise with its omni-present insurance brand.

What we do

Our dedicated medical malpractice teams operating from offices across the UK, Ireland and Spain, have a broad and deep understanding of medical malpractice alongside years of experience. Our wide range of experience includes handling the highest value, complex and sensitive matters, through to adopting novel, decisive and pro-active strategies on large volume, smaller cases. Individual client needs are at the heart of what we do when defending claims against health and social care professionals, and the diverse organisations they operate in.

We are networked globally and help insurers and their risks manage medical malpractice exposures across the globe.

What we are known for

We have the market leading specialist expertise in defending medical malpractice claims. We offer a unique, Third Party Authority (TPA) service and integrated litigation defence team. Our aim is to provide unrivalled levels of service, by combining a detailed knowledge of the healthcare market with technical excellence backed by genuine insurance understanding. This, alongside our commitment to innovation and value help make our team the clear leader in this sector.

Detailed elements of our services

As a leader in defending medical malpractice claims, we have experience handling the most complex, sensitive matters, group actions, through to the smallest claims adopting appropriate strategies for each.

As we are a market-leading presence in the insurance sector, we are also able to provide specialist policy coverage advice in the healthcare sector. The combination of a depth of expertise in both the healthcare and insurance sector, as well as an international presence, is what sets us apart.

Particular types of work undertaken by our team include:

• Cosmetic surgery: Acting for leading cosmetic and plastic surgeons in defending and managing claims brought by former patients dissatisfied with the outcome achieved from a variety of procedures;
• Primary care: We frequently act for GPs, out-of-hours and walk-in centres in a wide range of compensation claims;
• Prison healthcare: We act for primary care organisations defending claims brought by prisoners, often where there are allegations of a failure to provide basic medical care. We have often acted in such claims involving a Human Rights Act claim and complex issues over vicarious liability;
• Sports medicine: We act for leading specialists in sports medicine in connection with claims brought by professional sportsmen and athletes. Often it is alleged that a doctor's involvement has curtailed a playing career, resulting in substantial losses;
• Alternative therapies: We act for a range of defendants undertaking minimally invasive treatment, such as laser tattoo removal leading to scarring, acupuncture causing punctured lungs, and numerous chiropractors, where it is alleged that manipulations have caused fractures and even strokes;
• Care homes: We act for private care homes in connections with claims arising out of alleged lack of care, often leading to a rapid decline in health and death. This is a sensitive area of our work and can often generate press interest and regulatory oversight;
• Group actions and major incidents: We have considerable experience of managing all aspects of serious incidents and claims. These include multi-party actions, and incidents arising from criminal conduct from healthcare staff;
• Dentistry: We act for a number of dentists undertaking general and cosmetic or restorative dentistry;
• Inquests: We have dedicated healthcare regulatory teams who specialise in defending individuals and organisations at inquests – with a view to minimising reputational damage and exposure to subsequent claims.