Medical Negligence - Adviceline Injury Lawyers
Assessment of Claims
The law in Victoria requires a patient to have suffered a significant injury before he/she will be able to claim for pain and suffering damages. A 'significant injury' is defined as:
- for a physical injury arising out of medical negligence, a patient needs to show that he/she is more than 5% whole person impaired. Such an assessment is made in accordance with American Medical Association ‘Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment', (4th Edition) that determines, medically, the patient's level of impairment.
- for a psychiatric injury arising out of medical negligence, a patient needs to show that he/she is more than 10% impaired
- loss of a breast
- loss of a foetus
