Abolishing Legal Services Commission funding for clinical negligence claims will hit the worst off the hardest
November 23, 2010
Posted by:Caroline Klage
I was recently involved in the settlement of a case where my client was a young girl who had suffered severe birth injuries due to negligence on the part of the midwives who were involved in her mother's labour and her birth. The case settled for a significant sum. The case was was funded by the Legal Services Commission. These sorts of cases are extremely expensive to fund. Often, several expert reports are required to establish whether there is a case to answer. The injuries in these types of cases are always devasting. Fortunately, there was a case to answer here and Legal Services Commission funding enabled my client to secure an award that will fund her future care, equipment and therapies and hopefully improve her quality of life. In short, the LSC provided my young client with access to justice. I am therefore so sad to hear that LSC funding for clinical negligence claims is going to be abolished. How will such cases be funded in the future? To expect parents of children like my client to part with the sorts of sums needed to investigate such claims cannot be right and surely will hit the worst off the hardest.