Making a claim for a facelift gone wrong is not as simple as many people may believe. As with every type of surgery, there are risks of sustaining an injury when undergoing cosmetic surgery, and you should be advised of these risks before consenting to undergo any type of cosmetic procedure. When injuries occur that you were advised were a possibility, or that could not have been avoided “at the time and in the circumstances”, it is unlikely that you will be able to claim compensation for an injury from a facelift.
In order to make a claim for a facelift gone wrong, you must have sustained a quantifiable injury that you were not previously advised may be a consequence of the procedure. In most claims for compensation for an injury from a facelift it also has to be shown that the injury was due to a poor professional performance by your cosmetic surgeon that fell below the standard of care generally accepted by the medical community.
As with most medical negligence claims for compensation, compensation claims for a facelift gone wrong are full of grey areas. There are many issues that can affect your eligibility to claim compensation for an injury from a facelift and, because no claim for a facelift gone wrong is like any other, it is recommended that you seek individual legal advice from an experienced medical negligence solicitor that is that is relevant to your particular circumstances.
Before any non-emergency medical procedure, it is essential that a medical practitioner obtains their patient´s “informed consent”. What this means is that any risks of injury or complications should have been explained to you before you were asked to sign the consent form so that not only does a medical practitioner gets their patient´s consent, but they get their patient´s “informed consent”.
If you were told that the injury you sustained was a possible consequence of the facelift procedure you were about to undergo – and you gave your consent knowing this – it is unlikely that a claim for a facelift gone wrong will be successful. On the other hand, if you were not told about the risks of injury prior to the facelift procedure, the cosmetic surgeon has not obtained your informed consent.
Consequently, the failure of your cosmetic surgeon to obtain your informed consent will entitle you to claim compensation for an injury from a facelift – even if your injury could not have been avoided “at the time and in the circumstances”. Informed consent is an important issue in any claim for a facelift gone wrong, but is a complicated point of law. Please ask for clarification if you do not fully understand why informed consent is such a big issue.
To confirm that you are eligible to claim compensation for an injury from a facelift, your solicitor will ask to see a copy of your consent form and arrange an examination of your face by an expert cosmetic surgeon. The expert cosmetic surgeon will look for any indications that your plastic surgeon was negligent in the performance of the procedure and compile a report for your solicitor.
If sufficient evidence of negligence is identified – or you have suffered an injury that was not warned against on your consent form – your solicitor will send a “Letter of Claim” to the plastic surgeon´s practise. The “Letter of Claim” advises the practise that you are claiming compensation for an injury from a facelift and invites an offer of settlement.
The settlement of your claim will be based on several factors. Any physical pain and quantifiable psychological injury you have been diagnosed with will be taken into account, along with future pain and suffering if you have to you undergo revision surgery. You will also be entitled to compensation for the impact the injury has had on your quality of life, and for any costs related to your injury you have incurred – or may incur in the future.
It was mentioned earlier that no claim for a facelift gone wrong is like any other. This is not only because of the complexity of establishing negligence, but also due to the varying degrees of physical injury that can be suffered, the nature and extent of any emotional traumas that are experienced and the impact that the injury has on your quality of life.
Consequently, it is important to obtain individual legal advice about making a claim for a facelift gone wrong that is relevant to your particular circumstances; and, in this respect, we invite you to contact our Medical Negligence Advice Bureau in order to discuss the injury you sustained and the consequences of the injury with an experienced medical negligence solicitor.
Our solicitor will be able to answer any legal questions you may have about claiming compensation for an injury from a facelift in complete confidentiality and without any obligation on you to proceed with a claim for compensation. The aim of our service is for you to have your legal options explained to you in plain English, so that you can make an informed decision about whether you have a claim for a facelift gone wrong that may be worth your while to pursue.