If you’ve been a victim of medical negligence it may seem tempting to take on a case alone rather than seek the help of a medical negligence company. After all, there is a lot of information available relating to how to communicate with companies officially yourself. There have been a few well documented success stories where individuals have fought companies alone and won. When a claims company stand to make a lot of money from your claim, it can be tempting to go it alone and represent yourself.
Here are some positives and negatives of both options:
Claims company
Positives
1.Less stress
Having a company do all the hard work for you is a lot less stressful than dealing with the entire proceedings yourself. Claims can take years to resolve; do you have the time to commit to the case? Are you able to deal with the stress of reliving the details of your experience repeatedly?
2.More likely to win
You are most definately more likely to win a case if you have expert representatives presenting the evidence and details surrounding your case. Particularly if the case ends up going to court, where you’ll need a lot of confidence to represent yourself in the courtroom.
3.Knowledge
The claims company will know exactly how to deal with your claim because they deal with similar cases every day. For example; if you live in Sunderland and have chosen a local company to represent you they will more than likely be aware of lots of other Medical Negligence Claims in Manchester, potentially against the same company you are unhappy with.
Negatives
1.Lack of contact
You may feel a little out of the loop, especially if you use a national company. The people dealing with your claim will only contact you when they need to, which may be difficult if you’re stressed about the proceedings.
2.Money
The company will take some money from you or the company you are claiming against as payment. This could be costly and take a large portion of your winnings when the case is resolved.
Going it alone
Positives
1.Control
You’ll have complete control over how your case is dealt with.
2.Money
You will save money by representing yourself, as long as your working life isn’t compromised with the amount of time spent on the case.
Negatives
1.Less likely to win
You may well incur expenses during the process and you’re less likely to win any money at all because you won’t have all the knowledge or expertise to communicate your case effectively, especially if you’re fighting against a large company.
2.You’ll miss out on the support
Having a company deal with the case for you means you’ll have their full support and feel like your case is worth fighting for. Fighting a large company alone can be incredibly lonely and difficult.
Generally it is not advised that you take on a medical negligence claim alone as you are more than likely going to be dealing with the trauma of the experience and shouldn’t put yourself through any more stress if possible. There are lots of personable, friendly claims companies who can openly discuss what the claim will involve and what you can expect the outcome to be. They may take away some of the money you win but without them you’re more than likely not going to win anything. It’s worth hiring a company to deal with your claim to save yourself stress, time and to have a much higher likelihood of winning.
