How Much Compensation For Wrongly Prescribed Antidepressants?
Being wrongly prescribed antidepressants can have health consequences. It is vital that when you are being prescribed medication it is because you require it in order to for your health to improve, maintain health or prevent illness. Being prescribed a medication you don’t need can affect your overall health.
Our guide examines when a medical professional owes a duty of care to those that they agree to treat and why breaching this duty in such a way that causes patients to suffer avoidable harm can amount to medical negligence. We have included some illustrative examples to aid your understanding.
Also included in this guide is information on how a medical negligence compensation figure may be calculated under the two heads of loss, as well as information on the evidence that can be used to support potential compensation figures.
To finish off our guide, we explain the distinct features claimants can benefit from when starting their potential claim with one of the No Win No Fee solicitors on our panel of legal experts with the particular contract under which they can offer their services.
Contact our advisors at any time of day with questions, or if you want more information regarding the medical negligence claims process. Our team can also provide a free consultation regarding your eligibility to claim at absolutely no cost to you. You can reach us any day at any time using the following contact details:
- Call us on 020 3870 4868.
- Begin your potential claim online by completing this form
- Use the live chat button at the bottom of your screen for a fast reply to any queries.
Select A Section
- What Could You Claim If You Are Wrongly Prescribed Antidepressants?
- Who Could Claim For Prescription Negligence?
- What Could Cause You To Be Wrongly Prescribed Antidepressants?
- What To Do If You Were Wrongly Prescribed Antidepressants And You Want To Claim?
- Who Can Make No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Claims?
- Discover More About Claiming For Medical Negligence
What Could You Claim If You Are Wrongly Prescribed Antidepressants?
There are two different heads of loss relevant to a medical negligence claim for wrongly prescribed antidepressants. The physical and psychological damage you experience will be compensated under General Damages. Certain monetary losses incurred due to the avoidable harm you suffered can be compensated under Special Damages.
One of the benefits of instructing a solicitor to represent you is they will calculate a potential compensation figure for your claim. The legal team who are assigned this duty can make reference to your provided medical evidence, alongside the guidelines from the Judicial College. Also referred to as the JCG, this detailed publication contains guideline compensation brackets for various types of harm, some of which you can see in the table here.
We’d like to emphasise that the JCG figures are not guaranteed as each medical negligence claim is assessed on its individual merits.
Compensation Table
Please be aware that the top entry in this table is not a JCG bracket.
| Harm Caused | Severity | Guideline Compensation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple instances of severe harm, as well as special damages including medical and care costs. | Severe | Up to £250,000 and above | Compensation for multiple instances of serious harm, in addition to special damages payments for lost income, medical bills and the cost of care. |
| General Psychiatric Damage | Severe (a) | £54,830 to £115,730 | Severe impacts across multiple life areas including employment, social activity and personal relationships. |
| Moderately Severe (b) | £19,070 to £54,830 | A more positive prognosis than in (a) but significant problems across multiple aspects of life will be present. | |
| Moderate (c) | £5,860 to £19,070 | The injured person will have improved significantly with a good prognosis. | |
| Less Severe (d) | £1,540 to £5,860 | Consideration will be given to the impact on sleep patterns and daily activities. | |
| Bowels | Faecal urgency (c) | In the region of £79,920 | Passive incontinence persisting after surgery. |
| Digestive System | Non-traumatic Injury (b)(i) | £38,430 to £52,500 | Hospitalisation for a matter of days or weeks due to severe toxicosis causing nausea, serious pain, IBS and vomiting. |
| Non-traumatic Injury (b)(iv) | £910 to £3,950 | Cramps, diarrhoea and varying degrees of disabling pain over a number of days or weeks. |
Special Damages
As we touched on previously, the second of two heads of loss that compensation can be awarded under is known as Special Damages. Certain financial losses that result from the avoidable harm you experienced can be compensated under this head of loss. Possible examples include:
- Lost income due to leave of absence from work to recover.
- The costs of any prescription medications, therapy or other medical bills that need to be paid out of pocket.
- Domestic care and support, such as with food preparation, cleaning or maintenance if you can no longer complete these tasks by yourself safely.
This section is intended to provide you with guidance on the physical, psychological and financial harm you could potentially claim compensation for. It is not an exhaustive list. There are of course, other relevant examples. To get a more detailed estimate of the value of your potential claim, speak to advisors today using the number provided below.
Who Could Claim For Prescription Negligence?
Antidepressant medication is prescribed most commonly for the treatment of clinical depression. The wrong dosage or being given antidepressants when you don’t need them can have serious consequences for your health.
Medical negligence is when a medical professional causes their patient to experience avoidable harm by failing to provide care or treatment at the correct standard. A medical professional’s and healthcare provider’s duty of care is to provide their patient with care at the right standard, and this applies to all medically trained professionals across both the public and private healthcare sectors.
In order to begin a medical negligence claim for wrongly prescribed antidepressants, the following criteria will need to be met:
- A medical professional owed you a duty of care.
- There was a breach of this duty when the care you received did not meet the correct standard.
- As a result of this breach, you suffered avoidable harm.
What we mean by “avoidable harm” is any harm that you would not have suffered had the correct standard of care been given. We will examine this further in the section below.
To learn if you could claim for a medication error in your particular circumstances or to ask any questions you have about the claims process, contact our advisors today. Our friendly and experienced team are available 24 hours a day via the contact information given above.
Time Limits When Claiming For Wrongly Prescribed Antidepressants
A medical negligence claim for wrongly prescribed medication will be subject to a time limit of 3 years by the Limitation Act 1980. However, extensions to this can be granted if the patient is a minor or lacks sufficient mental capacity to claim. In both situations, a suitable adult can be appointed as the claimant’s litigation friend.
Our advisors can provide more detail on the time limit in medical negligence claims. Talk to a team member today via the contact information given above.
What Could Cause You To Be Wrongly Prescribed Antidepressants?
There are several different types of antidepressants, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) or noradrenaline and specific serotonergic antidepressants (NASSAs). Antidepressants are prescribed for depression as well as anxiety disorders.
Doctors primarily diagnose depression through talking with patients regarding stress, traumatic events and their day-to-day life. While there are no medical tests that can be performed to determine whether or not someone has depression, blood tests may be used to rule out other conditions. Antidepressant medication is usually only prescribed for severe depression, although may be used for mild or moderate depression if other treatments have proved to be ineffective.
We have provided a list of possible antidepressant prescription errors here:
- A failure to refer you for further tests meant you were diagnosed with depression when you had a thyroid problem. The doctor prescribed the wrong medication, which caused you to experience constipation, which led to a blockage in your bowel that was life-threatening.
- Administrative errors at a GP surgery meant your patient notes were mixed up with someone else’s. This wrong patient medication error caused you substantial psychiatric harm.
- Before the doctor rightly prescribed you an antidepressant medication, they never checked what other medications you were taking. The antidepression medication caused adverse reactions to other prescription medications you were taking.
Being prescribed the wrong medication will not automatically mean that you are eligible to make a medical negligence claim. It must be proven that the prescribing error happened due to the practitioner breaching the duty of care that they owed to you, and this resulted in harm that was avoidable. To learn if you could start a claim in your specific circumstances, contact our team today via the details provided below.
What To Do If You Were Wrongly Prescribed Antidepressants And Want To Claim
As part of your medical negligence claim for wrongly prescribed antidepressants, you will need to provide supporting evidence. This evidence will be used to show that your prescription was incorrect, as well as the avoidable harm you experienced because of this. Some potential evidence examples include:
- If you think you may have been wrongly prescribed a medication, you should seek professional help. As well as safeguarding your health, your medical records can be used.
- You should also retain your original prescription, including; the prescription letter, the medication itself and any packaging and labels.
- Notes from your GP or therapist showing your original diagnosis.
- Proof of financial losses stemming from the avoidable harm caused.
Will The Bolam Test Be Used In My Claim For Wrongly Prescribed Antidepressants?
Not always. The Bolam Test is applied in some medical negligence cases to establish whether or not the correct standard of care was met. Relevantly trained medical professionals will assess whether you were provided with care that was of the appropriate standard.
Now this isn’t something you’ll need to worry about as claimants do not organise the Bolam Test. Nevertheless, if used, the findings from the test can form part of your body of evidence.
A specialist solicitor from our panel of medical negligence experts could provide assistance with assembling a body of supporting evidence for your claim. Once our advisors have assessed your eligibility and deemed your potential claim valid, a specialist solicitor from our panel of medical negligence experts could take on your case. Working with an experienced legal representative to collect evidence will be highly beneficial to you.
Contact our advisors for a free consultation concerning your eligibility to claim today using the details provided below.
Who Can Make No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Claims?
The advisory team at UK Law has substantial experience in providing both advice and eligibility assessments. If our advisors decide you are eligible to claim medical negligence compensation for wrongly prescribed antidepressants, one of the specialist solicitors from our panel of medical negligence experts could offer to take your case under a Conditional Fee Agreement.
Commonly referred to as a CFA, this No Win No Fee contract comes with some significant benefits. For example, instructing a solicitor under a CFA means, in most circumstances, you will not pay any fee for the solicitor to commence work on your case. There will similarly be no fees during the claims process itself. And finally, as “No Win No Fee” suggests, there is no fee to pay if the claim is unsuccessful.
Should you win your claim, however, you will receive a medical negligence compensation award. Before the claim gets underway, you and the solicitor will agree to a success fee that will be taken by the solicitor if the claim is won. This will be deducted as a percentage of your compensation award in the event your claim succeeds. As The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013 caps success fees at a maximum of 25%, claimants get to keep most of any payout they receive.
Contact our advisors at any time of the day with questions or concerns or if you want more information regarding the medical negligence claims process. Our team can also provide a free consultation regarding your eligibility to claim at absolutely no cost to you. You can reach us any day at any time using the following contact details:
- Call us on 020 3870 4868.
- Begin your potential claim online by completing this form.
- Use the live chat button at the bottom of your screen for a fast reply to any queries.
Discover More About Starting A Claim For Medical Negligence
Learn more about making other types of medical negligence claims here;
- Find out who could be eligible to make an epilepsy misdiagnosis compensation claim.
- Learn more about claims for medication errors by nurses and how compensation figures are calculated.
- Read our guide on starting a claim for negligent diabetes treatment compensation.
We have also provided these external resources for your reference:
- The NHS has published extensive mental health guidance, including accessing services and symptoms of various conditions.
- If your complaint has not been resolved by your healthcare provider, you may be able to escalate the matter to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsmen. Find out more about their work here.
- Read the General Pharmaceutical Council’s professional standards on their website.
We’d like to thank you for taking the time to read our guide on starting a medical negligence claim for wrongly prescribed antidepressants. For further guidance on the medical negligence claims process, or to get your eligibility to claim assessed for free, contact our advisory team today. Advisors are ready to take your call 24 hours a day at the number provided above.
