SCA defends management of clinical negligence claims

The State Claims Agency (SCA) has defended its approach to managing complex clinical negligence claims, stating it had a statutory role to ensure no one was overcompensated, and has accused plaintiffs’ lawyers of exceedingly overstating demands sometimes by up to three times and implacably opposing mediation. This follows “unwarranted criticisms” raised recently, including by the media, that some parents of children who have been catastrophically injured as a result of clinical negligence have had to undergo the additional trauma of a court process. Submitting that the Agency was guided by a simple principle — where it is just and proper,…