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The family doctor or general practitioner is usually the doctor you see most often. You see this doctor for minor illnesses that are usually self limited, for the ongoing management of chronic diseases like diabetes, cholesterol problems or thyroid disease and for issues related to pregnancy and infant care. The family doctor is designed to treat the young and the old—the entire family, if necessary. They do not often work alone but have a series of specialists they can refer you to if you need to see a specialist for an uncommon disease, if the family practitioner needs you to have tests done that only a specialists can do or if the family doctor cannot identify what is wrong with you.

It is the job of the family doctor or general practitioner to know the difference between what he or she can handle and what they cannot handle. The general practitioner should have a wealth of experience in specialists to manage complicated cases so there should be no excuse when a complex case comes their way.

What constitutes negligence on the part of the general practitioner or family doctor? In order to determine whether or not there has been medical negligence on the part of a doctor, you need to prove that there was a duty of care the physician owed the patient. You need also to show that the doctor went beyond acceptable standards of medical care. The patient must have suffered from an injury for which they can be compensated and the injury must have come directly from the physician’s actions. The patient’s lawyer must carry the burden of proof in these cases.

Your family doctor assumes the duty of care as soon as they agree to see you. They agree to treat you in the best possible way and to make no mistakes or deviation of medical standards. The injury can be a physical one or an emotional one. It is harder to prove emotional injury than it is to prove a physical injury on the part of your doctor.

Your doctor can be negligent by virtue of doing something that deviated from medical standards, such as doing unnecessary surgery, even a minor one. The doctor can also be negligent if he or she forgets or omits a necessary procedure that should have been done in the care of the patient. If your doctor consistently fails to order tests to check for cancer, such as a mammogram or colonoscopy, he or she may be negligent if you come down with breast or colon cancer.

The doctor may prescribe a medicine out of the bounds of medical acceptability and you can suffer from a permanent side effect from taking the medication. If you have an allergy to a drug and the doctor prescribes the drug anyway, knowing you have the allergy, you can suffer from negligence on the part of the doctor. If no harm was done to you as a result of the giving of the medicine, i.e. you had a temporary allergic reaction that was adequately treated with medication and the stopping of the medication, it may be difficult to prove medical negligence because the symptoms were temporary and, in the long run, no harm was done.

You also need to tell your doctor everything, including surgery you have had in the past, conditions you have been diagnosed with in the past, medications (including over the counter medications and herbs) you are taking and any allergies you have had to medications, foods or other substances, including latex. Your participation in your own healthcare is important when it comes to avoiding situations in which your doctor might be negligent. Read all you can about whatever conditions you have and find out what screening tests you should be having to prevent disease or test for disease early. It is your collaboration with your doctor that may prevent you from suffering from medical negligence.

Our specialist medical negligence solicitors are able to deal with a wide range of personal injury claims. If you've been injured as a result of negligence by a healthcare professional, we can help you to preserve your legal right to compensation. We offer free consultations for advice to find out whether you have a good case, how to go about claiming and how much your compensation might be worth. We will give you clear unequivocal advice about your chances of success and the anticipated value of your claim. If after talking to us you decide not to take your medical negligence compensation claim further you are under no obligation to do so and you will not be charged anything at all.