No Win, No Fee Optician Negligence Claims

Expertise in Optician Negligence Claims

Medical (and especially optician negligence claims) aren’t only for hospitals and GPs. Any health service can fall foul of neglect and errors, including opticians. Eyesight is one of the most important senses and to have it jeopardised, or even damaged by a mistake an optician made can have devastating and long-lasting effects.

What is Optician Negligence?

You can claim optician negligence if the optician who examines your eyes gives an inadequate standard of treatment which results in damage to your eyesight. Both cause and effect must be proven as it is possible for negligence to occur without causing damage, while not all-optical damage results from optician negligence.

Examples of optician negligence include:

• An inadequate examination that fails to identify a potential condition which progressively worsens and damages a patient’s eyesight.
• Prescribing the wrong strength lenses for glasses or contact lenses.

Wearing the wrong strength lenses can have debilitating side effects like repeated and severe headaches. It can also permanently weaken a person’s vision in a way that can require corrective surgery to resolve, or which may even be incurable.

Optician negligence can include laser eye surgery negligence. This procedure, where a patient’s cornea is cut open and reshaped using a laser, is becoming more accessible due to a larger number of professionals carrying it out. Unfortunately, not all laser surgery practitioners are as well-trained or as skilled as they should be.

Side effects of failed laser eye surgery can include:

• Excessive tearing and watering of the eyes.
• Damage to tear ducts resulting in excessive dryness.
• Scratches on the cornea, and pain.
• Damaged, and even loss of, eyesight.

How Can We Help?

The Medical Negligence Expert’s lawyers have vast experience in suing opticians, including those caused by optician negligence. If you have suffered an inferior treatment, which you believe has damaged your vision, get in touch with us to find out if you have a valid optician sue case.

For a medical compensation request to be valid, you need to prove that your treatment was below reasonable expectations and that your injury was the direct result of it. We do this by investigating the circumstances around your claim, and comparing it with treatment and care another optician would provide to see if your experience fell short of what was acceptable.

A medical negligence claim is a long process, requiring months of investigation on both sides before compensation is even discussed. Depending on the circumstances, optician negligence claims can take even longer than the average medical negligence claim due to the complexity surrounding the medical conditions.

We appreciate that if you have had permanent damage to your eyesight that no amount of money will make up for the loss, however, it can help to make your life easier and assist with additional costs you may incur such as mobility aids and rehabilitation treatment. It will also cover income you have lost through not being able to work after your injury.

No Win No Fee* Optician Negligence Claims

Most claims we handle are made through a conditional agreement, more typically referred to as a No Win No Fee* claim. If we believe your claim has a good likelihood of a positive outcome – that is, that you will receive compensation, then we will offer you this option as a way of funding your compensation request.

It is no secret that medical negligence claims can take months – sometimes years – to resolve. The better your solicitor and the more experienced they are at handling claims like yours, the more positive the outcome will be for you. However, top legal advice and representation are expensive. A No Win No Fee* claim makes is affordable for you to seek the recognition and payment you deserve for the injury you have suffered, and does so in a way that puts you in no financial risk should your claim not be successful.

We are happy to go through the various funding options before you decide whether to start a claim, so call today to arrange a free, no-obligation conversation with one of our agents.

Medical Negligence Claims FAQ

You can talk to us directly if you need specific information or want to know more about the process of making a claim. To help, here are the answers to some of the questions we hear most from people when they first contact us.

Do I have the right to ask for compensation?

There are three questions you need to answer to know whether you can seek payment for damages:

• Did a medical professional owe you a duty of care? If they agreed to treat you, then the answer to this will be “yes”.
• Did they make an avoidable mistake or deliver a standard of care below what you would reasonably expect from someone in their profession?
• Did this negligent care cause your injury?

How long does a medical negligence claim take?

Although there is a defined time limit for starting a claim (three years from the date of injury, or the date of knowledge of this injury), there is no statutory processing time. The average processing time for a medical negligence claim in the UK is between 12 and 18 months. However, this can be shorter if the other party admits liability and your injury is straightforward and where the long-term implications can easily be identified.

Can I still claim compensation if I had the treatment done privately?

It does not matter if you paid for private treatment or received care from an NHS practitioner, your right to request payment for damages remains the same. Our solicitors are vastly experienced at claiming compensation from the NHS and private practitioners. There are subtle differences in the way these claims are made and working with a solicitor skilled in this area will give your claim the best chance of success.

How much compensation will I get?

There is no generic answer to this question as every claim for compensation is calculated on the victim’s particular circumstances. Compensation will include payment for pain and suffering as well as cover the cost of reasonable medical care and ensure you are not left

There is a time limit on submitting a compensation claim so contact The Medical Negligence Experts today and find out how we can help you obtain the compensation you deserve.

*conditions apply