Diabetes Negligence Claims
Does your claim qualify? Get free, no obligation advice!
If you’ve suffered complications with diabetes due to medical negligence, or you’ve experienced poor diabetes treatment at the hands of medical professionals, or a diabetes misdiagnosis has left you with serious injuries, you could be eligible to make a no win no fee diabetes compensation claim.
Diabetes is a serious medical condition that affects the way your body uses glucose, a type of sugar. When you eat, your body breaks down food into glucose and stores it. Glucose is used by cells in the body for energy, and insulin helps move glucose out of the blood so that it can enter these cells.
Type 1 diabetes occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin to allow this process to happen. In type 2 diabetes, a person’s body becomes resistant to insulin, or doesn’t produce enough insulin over time (or both). Glucose then stays in your blood and doesn’t reach your cells.
Diabetes can cause serious complications over time, such as kidney failure and blindness. Managing diabetes means controlling blood glucose levels as much as possible to prevent serious health problems from developing or getting worse.
Type 1 diabetes can develop fast, in a matter of days. Type 2 diabetes can take years to develop. Regardless, if you’ve developed diabetes as a result of someone else’s negligent treatment, or you believe medical negligence has made your diabetes worse, call 0800 234 6438 and speak to a trained legal advisor for free. If they feel you have a diabetes claim, they’ll pass you onto a medical negligence specialist team to pursue your claim for you.
If you have prediabetes, it means that your blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. This is an early warning sign for type 2 diabetes and can lead to serious health complications if left untreated.
If you have prediabetes, your body isn’t making enough of the hormone insulin or using it effectively. This can cause blood glucose levels to become too high (hyperglycemia).
Prediabetes is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes because of the shift in body fat from subcutaneous fat (under the skin) to visceral fat (around internal organs). Visceral fat tends to raise your blood glucose level more than subcutaneous fat does-and this increase makes it easier for you to develop type 2 diabetes over time.
Bear in mind, just because prediabetes is a risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes, it doesn’t always develop into full diabetes. However, the longer you have prediabetes, the more likely you are to eventually develop type 2 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that affects the way your body produces and uses insulin. In order to live, you need to produce insulin, a hormone that helps turn sugar into energy. When someone has type 1 diabetes, their pancreas no longer makes any or enough of the insulin needed to convert sugar into energy. This can lead to serious complications if blood sugar levels aren’t kept under control.
Type 1 diabetes can be diagnosed at any age but usually appears during childhood or young adulthood. It’s not linked to lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise like some other types of diabetes, e.g. type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes. It occurs when the body becomes resistant to insulin, a hormone that transports glucose (blood sugar) into your cells to be used as energy. Type 2 diabetes is also strongly linked with obesity because, as you likely know, carrying around extra weight can lead to health complications. However, it’s important to note that not all overweight people develop type 2 diabetes and not everyone who has this condition is overweight.
The many causes of type 2 diabetes include lifestyle choices like poor diet and lack of physical activity; genetics; and in some cases, even certain medications or medical conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). If you have PCOS or another medical condition related to fertility issues, your risk for developing type 2 increases greatly compared with someone whose body functions normally physiologically speaking.
LADA is a type of diabetes that usually affects people in their 40s and 50s. Like type 1, it’s not caused by lifestyle factors, but unlike type 2 diabetes, it’s not caused by poor diet and lack of exercise.
MODY is a rare form of diabetes that often appears before age 30. It’s caused by a genetic mutation in one of the genes involved in producing insulin, which causes problems with how the body processes sugar.
MODY is not the same as type 1 or type 2 diabetes—people who have it don’t produce enough insulin or their bodies don’t respond properly to it (insulin resistance). MODY accounts for less than 5 percent of all cases of diabetes, but it can be treated with insulin injections just like types 1 and 2.
Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that can occur during pregnancy. It’s diagnosed in women who have high blood sugar levels during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes typically goes away once the baby is born, but it can cause complications for both you and your child if not managed correctly, such as premature birth, miscarriage, or stillbirth.
Gestational diabetes is the most common type of diabetes in pregnant women, affecting about 10% of pregnancies worldwide each year. The condition affects more than 200 million women globally and accounts for more than half of all cases of pre-existing diabetes in pregnant women worldwide.
The symptoms of diabetes are not always obvious. They can be similar to other conditions, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. However, the earlier you are diagnosed with diabetes, the sooner you will be able to manage your condition and prevent serious health complications.
If you have any of the following symptoms, visit your GP as early as possible. Early symptoms include:
The vast majority of people with prediabetes don’t experience any signs or symptoms. If you’re one of the relatively few who notice that something seems off, it’s likely to be subtle and not obvious at first.
For example, you may feel more tired than usual, or notice that your urine smells fruity or sweet. Some people with prediabetes will develop symptoms over time as their condition worsens. These can include:
Type 1 diabetes is not caused by poor diet or lifestyle. Type 1 diabetes is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the body’s own immune system turns on the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. It cannot be prevented by lifestyle changes or dietary adjustments, and it can occur at any age, although it is most common in children and young adults.
The cause of type 2 diabetes is not completely known but involves a complex interplay between genes and lifestyle factors such as obesity and physical inactivity. The key risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes include being overweight or obese (obesity alone increases risk by at least 2-fold), age (the older you are, the greater your risk), family history (having close relatives with type 2 diabetes), and race/ethnicity (African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders).
Gestational diabetes is more common in women who:
If you have been diagnosed with diabetes, it is natural that you will want to do everything in your power to keep it under control. You may be taking all of the recommended medication and following a strict diet. However, if you believe that the healthcare provider who is responsible for treating your diabetes was negligent in some way, then it may be possible to make a claim for compensation.
There are several different types of medical negligence that can occur before, during, or after diabetes treatment:
Failure to diagnose diabetes is unfortunately one of the more common medical negligence claims. Diabetes is a serious condition and failure to diagnose it can lead to serious complications, including blindness, amputation, even death.
Delayed diagnosis of diabetes is a very serious problem, for example, if you go undiagnosed for too long and your blood sugar levels continue to rise, you could develop ketoacidosis—a life-threatening condition that occurs when your body produces too many ketones. This dangerous condition requires immediate treatment—and if left untreated, it can lead to death.
Diabetes is a serious condition that can be fatal if not diagnosed early and treated properly. If you have been misdiagnosed and haven’t received the proper treatment for your diabetes, this could result in serious health problems and even death. The longer you wait to receive treatment, the more damage may be done to your body.
Diabetes mismanagement can occur when there is:
If a doctor prescribes the wrong medication for diabetes, it can result in a serious medical error. For example, if you have type 2 diabetes and your doctor prescribes medicine to treat type 1 diabetes, it could cause some serious complications.
Heart disease is one of the most common complications of diabetes. High blood pressure and high cholesterol often go hand in hand with type 2 diabetes, and both can lead to atherosclerosis (a buildup of plaque in the arteries), which increases your risk for heart attack and stroke.
Strokes are also more common among people with diabetes than those without it; this may be because high blood sugar damages blood vessels throughout the body, including those that supply oxygen-rich blood to the brain.
In some cases, a person with diabetes may develop foot or leg ulcers. These can occur when the blood vessels in your feet and legs become damaged, which makes it difficult for oxygen to reach the skin. Without enough oxygen, your skin tissue will begin to die off. If left untreated, this condition can lead to gangrene—a serious infection that requires amputation of the affected area.
There are a number of nerve-related complications that diabetes can cause. Because diabetes is a disease that affects your body’s ability to produce insulin, it can also affect the nerves in your feet, hands, legs and arms. In some instances of diabetic nerve damage, doctors recommend amputation as an option for dealing with pain, or other issues caused by the condition when conservative treatment methods fail to provide relief.
Diabetes may also cause kidney disease or failure. Kidney disease can result from high blood glucose levels, which over time damage the tiny blood vessels inside your kidneys. As a result, less blood flows to these organs and they become less efficient at removing waste products and extra fluid from your bloodstream.
Diabetic eye disease is one of the most common causes of new cases of vision impairment and blindness. This condition occurs when high blood sugar levels damage tiny blood vessels in the retina, which can lead to bleeding, swelling and scarring. This can eventually cause you to lose your sight.
Women with poorly controlled blood sugar levels are at risk of developing preeclampsia—a condition that causes high blood pressure and swelling in the hands and feet. High blood pressure during pregnancy is linked to foetal complications such as stillbirth.
In addition, babies born to mothers with poorly controlled diabetes have an increased risk for birth defects, including heart malformations, kidney malformations and neural tube defects (anencephaly).
If you’ve suffered complications with your diabetes as a result of the medical negligence of healthcare professionals:
If you’ve had to fork out for medical bills from your own pocket, or lost wages, as well as experienced pain and suffering due to someone else’s negligence or negligent treatment, that isn’t fair. If you have suffered injuries as a result of someone’s negligence, you may be eligible to claim compensation.
You can claim compensation for physical injuries such as pain and suffering. You can also claim compensation for mental trauma resulting from the incident. It is important to note that this can cover both physical and psychological harm. Mental trauma can include stress, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
You could also seek financial recompense for loss of earnings/future earnings.
If you or a loved one has diabetes and were harmed by a healthcare provider’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation.
In order to receive compensation, your medical negligence solicitors must show that the healthcare provider’s care fell below the minimum standard of care for treating diabetes, and/or that their negligence caused you harm.
This can be difficult but not impossible. To make a successful claim, you must be able to prove:
There is no cure for diabetes. And if you’re now living with diabetes as a result of someone else’s negligence, or their negligent treatment resulted in your pre-existing diabetes worsening, it’s likely to have repercussions on your health for the rest of your life.
Claiming compensation can help alleviate financial pressure you may endure as a result of your diabetes:
It can also compensate you for the emotional impact the injuries have had on your life:
You shouldn’t have to suffer financially as the result of someone else’s negligence. To find out more about diabetes compensation claims, or to speak to a trained legal advisor for free, call 0800 234 6438 today, and start your diabetes negligence claim. Or fill out the form and someone will call you back.
No two personal injury claims are the same, and the amount you could be awarded will be dependent on your level of injuries sustained, and the impact the medical negligence has had on your day to day life.
Your specialist solicitors will investigate every impact the diabetes medical negligence has had on your life and will be best placed to advise you on a more accurate compensation amount.
For instance, they’ll take into consideration:
While no amount of money can undo what has happened to you, it can give you peace of mind that you don’t have to endure any more financial pressure as a result of the diabetes, so you can focus on getting your life back on track.
To give you an idea of what compensation you might receive, the Judicial College, a government department in the Ministry of Justice, has established guidelines for two different types of damages for all personal injuries:
Example pay ranges for diabetes medical negligence include:
To recoup the compensation you deserve, it all starts with a phone call. Simply call free on 0800 234 6438 and speak with a trained legal advisor who will answer all your questions about diabetes claims and offer advice about the next steps.
If they believe you have a claim to make, they’ll partner you with specialist medical negligence solicitors who will take your case on a no win no fee basis. Meaning you won’t pay any upfront fees, and if your claim isn’t successful, you won’t have to pay a penny of legal fees. But if you are successful, your legal fees and any other associated costs will come out of your settlement (up to a maximum of 25%).
To bring a personal injury claim such as a diabetes medical negligence claim, you have three years from when you first noticed symptoms, or from the date of diagnosis.
There are of course exceptions to the three limit rule:
Yes, diabetes misdiagnosis is considered medical negligence. If you’ve suffered complications as a result of medical negligence, you could be entitled to submit a medical negligence claim.
If you’re unsure whether you’re eligible to make a claim, call 0800 234 6438 for free and speak with a personal injury advisor who will listen to what you’ve been through and make a decision about whether they believe you have a claim or not. They will never pressure you into making a claim, nor will they rush you to proceed.
Yes, you can claim compensation on behalf of a loved one who died as a result of medical negligence. While no amount of money can bring them back, it can help you rebuild your life.
Yes, you can make a compensation claim on a no win no fee basis. To find out more, call 0800 234 6438 today and speak to a trained legal advisor.
Yes, if you’ve suffered injuries while using the NHS, you could be eligible to claim compensation. To start your claim, call 0800 234 6438 for free today and begin getting your life back together.
Nicola is a dual qualified journalist and non-practising solicitor. She is a legal journalist, editor and author with more than 20 years' experience writing about the law.
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