APIL president David Bott has described the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill as a “savage blow” for injured patients.
Following an announcement by Ken Clarke yesterday, Mr Bott said some of the Ministry of Justice’s plans for legal aid and no-win, no-fee were “unfair, unjust and unwarranted”.
He said: “Cutting legal aid for medical injuries at the same time as restricting ‘no win, no fee’ is a savage blow for patients whose lives may have been shattered by their injuries.
“Obviously, this is an enabling Bill and we still need to see the detail, but the intent behind it is clearly just as brutal as we had been led to expect.
“The drive to cut costs by forcing injured people to give up part of their compensation to pay legal fees is unfair, unjust and unwarranted.
“People don’t choose to be injured, but when negligence happens, the guilty party – the losing defendant – must surely be held fully to account.”
Medico-Legal News Source: APIL
