Injuries Direct - Personal Injury Claims

A care assistant has made a personal injury claim against her employer after an accident at work.
The accident occurred at a residential home for elderly people. The worker was taking some food out on a heated trolley.

There were plates stacked at the back of the trolley and they were stacked high so that they touched the shelf above them. Because of this, the worker was unable to use the gauntlets because they were too awkward and they did not provide enough grip.

When this had happened in the past, employees often used tea towels to carry the hot plates. The worker did this as normal but as a result, she burned her forearm on the plates.

The worker felt that this accident could have been avoided and that her employer could have ensured that a safer system was in place. The worker had mentioned the problem to her manager in the past. She had said that the gauntlets were unsuitable and that the plates should not be stacked inside the trolley as the temperature was too high.

The worker’s employer denied that they were responsible for the accident so the employee took the case to court. The employee was awarded compensation for injuries.

If you, or a family member, have been affected as a result of medical negligence, you will know just how devastating this can be.

You put all of your trust into the medical profession and you feel let down and angry that a mistake has been made.

If the case ends up going to court, you need to be prepared for a long journey as medical negligence cases are far from straight forward.

But there is help along the way and there are certain steps you can take to make the process a little easier.

First, you need to speak to the staff involved and discuss with them the reasons why the mistake was made. This will help you to understand exactly what happened and more importantly why this happened. You can then take your complaint to the designated complaints manager in your health authority.

Of course, medical lawyers have the expertise to guide you through the entire process but there are other channels offering help too. You can talk to your local Patient Advice and Liaison Service for example. You can also approach the Independent Complaints Advocacy Services which is a free and impartial source of advice.

Getting compensation for injuries caused by medical negligence is not easy. But with medical lawyers at hand and several other sources of help, the process can be made a lot easier.

If a mistake has been made in a hospital or a doctor’s surgery, the story will always hit the headlines. We go to hospitals and surgeries for advice, treatment and help so if we come out in a poorer state of health than we went in, we are left shocked and angry.

Of course, doctors, surgeons and nurses have a duty to treat us well and ensure that we receive the best care. But, as is often forgotten, these people are only human and sadly, humans make mistakes.
More often than not, the mistakes are small and a lot of the time, the patient is unaware that they have even occurred. But sometimes, unfortunately the mistake that a doctor makes can be devastating. Some people have been left permanently affected and others have even lost their lives.
When mistakes are made, the victims and their families often want an explanation and an apology. But when this is not given, it can turn into a long, drawn out court case resulting in compensation for injuries caused by the mistake.

But these cases are not straight forward. It is up to the claimant to prove that the doctor was negligent and that harm was done as a result.

A rugby player is set to receive £1,500 in compensation for injuries which he suffered during a match between Bonymaen and Pontypool.

Richard Mark Williams, a rugby player from Swansea suffered a broken jaw after being punched by an opponent in the match. Samual Pailor pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm.

The incident began with Pailor trying to charge down a clearance kick by Williams. He failed to block the kick and there followed an exchange of words between the two players. But Pailor reacted badly to this and punched his opponent with substantial force in the face.

Mr Williams was taken to hospital where he was treated for a displaced fracture to the left side of his jaw. The punch left Mr Williams with a slight overbite and this had to be corrected using orthodontic brackets, worn for a month.

Pailor was ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service and he was also ordered to pay compensation of £1,500 to Mr Williams. He also had to pay £500 towards prosecution costs.

The fire fighter was with colleagues when they attended a fire at a derelict bungalow. They had almost finished extinguishing the fire when another fire fighter removed tiles from the roof and placed them onto an internal ceiling so that the fire could be tackled from above. The officer in charge was told that the ceiling was boarded and the fire fighter then entered the building.

The officer in charge had assumed that the ceiling was covered with wooden floorboards but in fact, the ceiling was only covered with plaster board. Because the plaster board was damp and because it was weighted down with tiles, the ceiling collapsed on top of the fire fighter and he suffered several injuries.

The fire fighter believed that the accident would not have happened if safety measures were put into place. It was argues that the officer in charge should have dismantled the ceiling and that the tiles should never have been placed on it. The officer agreed that this was true and that a risk assessment should have been carried out.

The fire fighter was awarded compensation for his injuries.

Medical negligence compensation claims are unfortunately rising but why is this the case? The health care profession is supposed to be getting better all the time so surely the number of claims should be falling. One reason for this might be the fact that more accurate records of claims are now being kept and now more people now realise that they may be able to make a claim for compensation if the duty of care that everyone is entitled to is not met.

One area of medicine where claims are unfortunately rising is in the area of cosmetic surgery. Cosmetic surgery compensation claims have risen over recent years, and because most of these types of operations are conducted in private surgeries, regulation in the industry is difficult to maintain. A recent report actually stated that 20% of all claims for medical negligence in regard to private practices were connected to cosmetic surgery.

Whether NHS or private, the health care professional looking after you should provide an adequate level of care and should make you fully aware about the procedure you are undergoing and any ill effects that may occur as a result.

The Ministry of Justice has just confirmed plans for a new road traffic accident compensation scheme. The scheme will be streamlined and be for road accident compensation claims where a person has been injured and damages amount to between £1,000 and £10,000. This will mean the new scheme will apply to about 80% of all personal injury claims involving car accidents.

The compensation scheme has been set up after discussions with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) to enable facility of a more effective and quicker compensation scheme.

The scheme will implement set levels of costs at each stage of the process and hopefully reduce legal costs. The system will also use standardised electronic claim forms so the whole system can be made more transparent and hence decisions can be made more effectively.

Nick Starling from the ABI stated:

“The ABI has long argued for a simpler, more streamlined compensation system that works in the interests of consumers, so we completely support today’s announcement. This new process will cut down on delays, and reduce the high legal costs that are paid for through motor insurance premiums.”

If you approach a solicitor to handle your claim for whiplash, then you may be entitled to general damages and special damages.

General damages cover the physical pain you have suffered as a result of your whiplash caused by the accident. But general damages can also refer to emotional pain and loss of enjoyment of life and even depression.

The amount awarded will depend upon similar cases which the court has seen previously but it will also depend upon your medical reports and what they say about the extent of the injuries and the effect it had on your emotional state.

Special damages refer to the losses you have incurred because of the accident. This can include loss of earnings, car hire expenses and expenses for medical attention. In order to claim for special damages, you need to keep a record of the payments you have made along with any receipts as proof of this.

If you have suffered whiplash from an accident, you need to bring the proceedings to court within three years of the date of the injury. If you do not do this then you will be forfeiting your right to claim.

Whiplash is a common injury caused by road traffic accidents. But the symptoms of whiplash often don’t appear immediately. In fact, it might be 12 hours before the effects begin to show and at that point, the symptoms can get even worse.

Whiplash usually consists of pain, stiffness in the neck and perhaps some swelling which can impact of the amount of movement you have in your neck.

There are many other symptoms which have also been reported in cases of whiplash and these can range from dizziness to loss of memory.

Whiplash usually disappears after a few days but sometimes the pain can last for a few months. If you make a claim for whiplash, the subsequent compensation you will receive will only take into account the times your pain stopped you from acting as normal. This will include loss of earnings.

When you approach a solicitor about your whiplash claim, they will work out how much your claim is likely to be worth. If they find that they may not be able to get you more than the legal amount, they may say that they won’t represent you because the courts will not pay their fees. But if this is the case, ensure that you get a second opinion.

A man has received increased personal injury compensation for injuries caused by a road accident that he was involved in.

The man was a front seat passenger in a stationary car at a set of traffic lights when the car he was in was hit in the rear by another vehicle. The passenger suffered neck and back injuries as well as facial bruising.

The passenger believed that the driver of the other vehicle was at fault for the accident so he made a personal injury claim.

The driver of the other vehicle admitted liability and an initial offer of compensation was made. But this compensation did not take the full extent of the injuries into account and the compensation did also not take into account the fact the claimant was a competitive rugby player and that this had suffered as a result of the accident.

The compensation was raised a little, but it was still felt that it did not reflect the full extent of the injuries so the matter was pursued to court. The Judge awarded an increased sum of damages and the amount reflected the amount that the claimant’s lawyers had initially put forward to the claimant.