Wealth and finances (or lack of) should not be a barrier to Clinical Negligence Claims

Louise Tyler has been actively fighting for access to justice for everyone, through her work with various bodies including the Law Society and AvMA. She passionately believes that wealth and finances (or lack of) should not be a barrier.
Every coin has 2 sides, as does every point of view. On the one hand, headlines about saving the NHS money are popular in these times of austerity, and also sell newspapers. On the other hand, we do all pay for the NHS from our taxes and other contributions, and can reasonably expect (have a right, even) to a minimum standard of care.
An article in this months Law Gazette overlooks the fact that what underpins the English legal system, is that everyone has an equal right to access justice.
Clinical Negligence claims are rarely about compensation. Clients usually want answers to what happened and why. They want reassurance that steps are being taken to make sure that lessons are learnt and mistakes are not repeated.
What is the basis upon which compensation should be capped, just because it is as a result of clinical negligence? In law you are compensated for the losses you have suffered with the objective of putting you back in the financial position you would have been in, but for the injury. This is assessed on the individual’s personal circumstances – the proposed system takes no account of the individual, instead seeking to treat people as objects with formulae attached to them to calculate their pain, suffering and loss.
The original article in the Law Gazette can be viewed here