While many people are happy with the outcome of corrective ear surgery, problems can sometimes occur. If you’ve been injured after otoplasty surgery and believe the surgeon’s negligence was to blame, you may be eligible to make an ear surgery negligence claim for compensation.

Importantly, we are happy to review any type of medical negligence claim for free. That means an advisor will consider how you’ve suffered and explain your legal options to you. If it appears that you have a strong reason to claim for your injuries, a medical negligence solicitor on our team might offer to help you claim. Should that be the case, you’ll benefit from a No Win No Fee service meaning legal fees won’t need to be paid unless compensation is paid.

You can speak to us about your case on 0800 6524 881 or you can read on to learn more about ear surgery negligence claims.

What Is Corrective Ear Surgery?

Corrective ear surgery, or otoplasty, is a cosmetic procedure to change the position, shape or size of the ears. While it is a cosmetic procedure, children and adults can sometimes have corrective ear surgery on the NHS as well as through a private hospital.

People often choose to have corrective ear surgery if:

• Their ears appear large in proportion to their head.
• The ears stick out a lot further than “normal”.

Corrective ear surgery is usually performed on both ears to maintain symmetry after the operation and is usually conducted under general anaesthetic. Otoplasty is usually safe if performed properly and patients are usually happy with the outcome of the operation.

Am I Eligible To Make An Ear Surgery Negligence Claim?

Generally, to be eligible to make an ear surgery negligence claim for compensation you’ll need to show there was:

• A breach of duty. You need to show that the medical professional (cosmetic ear surgeon, anaesthetist, surgical nurse etc) breached their duty of care. This means demonstrating that the level of care was below what you might reasonably expect of a qualified and competent practitioner.
• Causation. It must be proven that, as a direct result of the breach of duty during your ear surgery, you’ve been injured or made ill. You can read more about this in our guide to proving causation.

Of course, proving that both of the above are true can be very difficult. Therefore, if you start an ear surgery negligence claim, your solicitor will ask a suitably qualified independent specialist to review the treatment you received. If they believe that they’d have done things differently (i.e. the defendant was negligent), your solicitor may agree to proceed with your claim.

Can I Still Claim Compensation If I Signed A Consent Form?

If you have any type of cosmetic surgery claim, the surgeon may have asked you to sign a consent form (or waiver). If you’ve been told that you can’t sue for injuries you’ve sustained following ear correction surgery because you’ve signed a waiver, that is wrong.

A consent form is simply a tool that’s used to record the fact that you were told what treatment you’d receive and any known risk factors. However, it does not protect the surgeon from legal action if they were negligent and you have suffered as a result. You can ask one of our specialists to review your consent form during a free consultation into your claim.

Common Types Of Ear Correction Surgery Negligence

So, looking at the information in an earlier section of this guide, claims for ear injuries from corrective surgery can only be made if they’ve been caused by medical negligence.

Some examples of when this might be the case include:

• If you couldn’t provide informed consent to the ear correction procedure because the risks were not explained.
• Where other forms of treatment were not considered before ear surgery was chosen.
• Where an anaesthetist made a mistake which made you aware of pain during surgery.
• Where poor aftercare led to an infection post-surgery. This can include poor advice if you were left to manage your own aftercare.
• If your health history was not reviewed before surgery.
• If mistakes were made during the surgical procedure itself, such as incorrect incisions, damage to surrounding structures, or improper placement of implants or grafts.

Again, any form of medical negligence could mean you’re eligible to claim compensation for your injuries. Therefore, even if we’ve not described the type of negligence that’s caused you to suffer, please get in touch and we’ll conduct a review of your case for free.

Common Risks Associated With Corrective Ear Surgery

Some of the most common problems linked to negligence during ear correction surgery include:

If you’ve suffered any type of injury following a botched corrective ear procedure, why not let us know what happened?

How Much Compensation For Botched Ear Correction Surgery?

Each compensation claim is based on its merits so there isn’t one set amount of compensation you’d get for ear correction surgery gone wrong. Instead, your physical injuries will be examined by a medical expert as part of an independent medical assessment, generally arranged locally for claimants by their solicitor.

The specialist will ask you questions about how you’ve suffered as a result of the negligent ear surgery and produce a report for your solicitor. This report will explain your injuries and what chance there is that you’ll fully recover from them. Your solicitor will use guideline figures from the Judicial College to calculate the amount of compensation to claim for general damages.

There are also other factors to consider when claiming compensation for ear correction surgery negligence. For example, you might be entitled to compensation for:

• Embarrassment, emotional distress and other types of mental suffering.
• Loss of income – this might include long-term losses too.
• The cost of private remedial ear correction surgery or plastic surgery.
• Care costs if your injuries meant you required support from somebody else.
• Loss of amenity if you couldn’t enjoy your normal hobbies because of your ear injuries.
• Travel costs associated with your injuries.

Importantly, your claim should be based on all the suffering you’ve had to deal with already plus any future suffering. That’s because you will usually only be able to successfully claim compensation for your injury once. If your claim is dealt with by a medical negligence solicitor on our team, they’ll try to make sure everything is thought about before your claim is submitted.

Evidence To Support Ear Correction Surgery Negligence Claims

To help prove the extent of your suffering, your solicitor will gather some supporting evidence. For ear correction surgery claims, this can include:

• Medical records. Copies of all your medical records related to the ear surgery. This might include pre-op assessments, surgical notes, anaesthesia records, post-op care instructions, and any subsequent treatments or follow-up appointments that may help establish the standard of care provided and identify any negligence that may have occurred.
• Photographs. Take photographs of your ears before and after the otoplasty to capture any visible changes, complications, or deformities resulting from the procedure.
• Witness statements. If there were any witnesses present during the ear surgery or who can testify to the negligence or lack of appropriate care, gather their statements and contact information.
• Correspondence. Save any written correspondence (emails, letters, etc.) exchanged between you and the plastic surgeon or hospital etc regarding the surgery. This can include consent forms, instructions, or any complaints you may have made.
• Financial records. Keep records of any additional medical expenses you incurred as a result of the ear surgery negligence, such as costs for corrective procedures, medications, consultations, or ongoing treatment.
• Diary. Keep a detailed journal or diary documenting your symptoms, pain, discomfort, and any other relevant observations following the corrective surgery.

If you’ve got evidence that might help your ear surgery negligence claim, please let your advisor know when you get in touch.

Ear Correction Surgery Negligence Claim Time Limits

You may already know that medical negligence claims have a time limit of 3 years in the UK. If you try to make a claim outside of that period, it’s likely that any compensation you might’ve been entitled to will be refused. Therefore, we’d suggest starting your claim at the earliest opportunity.

For ear correction surgery negligence claims, the time limit will usually begin from the date you found out that something was wrong. This might be a few days or weeks after surgery. However, we’d advise getting in touch just to be sure.

Beginning your claim early will hopefully mean you’ll be awarded compensation sooner if the claim is successful. It should also mean that there is plenty of time for your medical negligence solicitor to collect and collate medical notes and evidence to try to prove your case.

Starting The Ear Surgery Negligence Claims Process

If your ear correction surgery was botched and you believe you’re suffering as a result of medical negligence, call us on 0800 6524 881 for free advice about your claim. We’ll review your case and explain your options on a no-obligation basis.

If a medical negligence solicitor from our team agrees with your opinion that you should be awarded compensation, they’ll offer to help you on a No Win No Fee basis. That means that unless they win your claim, you won’t need to pay for their work. Knowing that should mean the claims process is considerably less stressful.

Our live chat advisors can also help with ear correction surgery negligence claims so please feel free to contact them also.