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Getting Medical Help after an Accident
If you have had an accident through no fault of your own, you should look at putting in a claim for compensation for the pain, suffering, and any financial losses caused as a result. But another massively important thing that is often missed by lawyers is the need for you, the injured victim, to have the best possible medical care straightaway.
Under the rules that govern making a claim, the other side have a duty to help you out in any way they can to help you get better as quickly as possible. So if you need medical treatment, like physiotherapy or chiropractic assistance for example, you need it right away when you are suffering the most from your injuries. But, whilst the NHS can be fantastic with their rehabilitation services, there can be long waiting lists that can run in to months.
Problem solved if you make a claim with The Injury Lawyers – we can look to arrange for the funding of private medical care for the case. We can usually sort out the funding for it so you get access to the best and quickest treatment right away, and you don’t have to pay any upfront fees for it! If the claim wins we will add the fees to the compensation settlement figure for the other side to pay. If it doesn’t win, it is covered by a policy of insurance our medical partners have. It’s kind of like No Win, No Fee treatment!
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If you are lifting heavy objects at work then there is an obvious risk that you could sustain injury, especially if you have not received training or advice in respect of lifting heavy objects. An employer should provide you with training to enable you to do your job properly, without sustaining injury.
In terms of lifting heavy objects, there should be procedures in place to ensure that injuries are avoided all together or reduced as much as possible. In some jobs lifting and carrying heavy objects is simply part of the job. However workers should not be expected to do this blindly, they should receive training on lifting and carrying techniques.
An employer who does not provide adequate training is leaving itself open to negligence claims when employees become injured. Typical injuries could include back and or neck strain, shoulder strain etc. For objects that are particular heavy employers should consider other ways of moving the objects, perhaps by avoiding manual handling all together. You can of course move objects using equipment such as fork lift trucks.
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Holes in the Ground Manhole Cover Claims
The whole purpose of manhole covers is to allow access to something below the ground but also to keep the area safe when access is not required. Basically, it stops there being a big hole in the middle of the street, which of course is not going to end well if you walk in to it!
However, some manhole covers can be extremely old and as many are made from metal, over the years, they have rusted and become unstable and consequently lead to serious injuries.
There are three main types of accidents that are caused by manhole covers:
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Scams involving claims for personal injury
Ever seen the film the Invention of Lying, starring Ricky Gervais? It’s a great film; and I think it would be amazing if the concept could actually be true. Imagine a world where no-one can lie? It would be far better and fairer for those of us who live an honest life if all the cheaters and the scammers were unable to do what they do.
But how does this all tie in with a personal injury post?
Personal injury often gets a bad reputation. But to be honest, unless you’ve actually been in an accident and been injured, you probably just think it’s a “joke”.
People getting money for free! For nothing!
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We, The Injury Lawyers, deal only with claims for personal injury. We do not deal with any other types of law – so day in day out, our hard working teams are fighting for the maximum compensation for accident victims across the country. So we can easily say, with confidence, that we are the specialist in our field.
As such, we deal with many injury claims for children. Naturally there is a need for more care to be taken when it comes to our little ones being injured, especially as they can be more vulnerable to serious injury.
It’s sad to hear when a child has been injured, but where it is not their fault, we will step in and make sure your child is compensated for the maximum amount they are entitled to recover, and we’ll make sure that the whole process is as easy as possible.
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If I Make A Personal Injury Claim Will I Go To Court?
This is something that always seems to worry people when they are considering making a claim – as understandably many people do not like the thought of being put in front of a judge with someone firing questions at them (like you see on the many court dramas on T.V). However, in the majority of civil claims they never get as far as going to court, so there really is no reason that this should deter you from pursuing a claim.
The civil procedure rules – the rules that govern personal injury claims – are specifically designed to stop the need to go to court. They do this through a number of ways with the main one being what is called a Part 36 offer. I will not go into much detail here about these, but they are a good example to show how the rules are designed to deter people from going to court.
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Personal Injury Compensation Payout on a Knee Injury – National Average for Knee Injury Payouts
Injuring your knee is usually very painful. As an area of the body that’s prone to injury, you can get anything ranging from some straightforward muscular swelling like a pulled muscle or a stretched ligament to the agony of a torn or ruptured ligament leaving you unable to walk properly for a long time, and even needing surgery.
The problem is that it is too easy to twist your knee to such an extent where you end up rupturing ligaments and needing reconstructive surgery.
A torn ligament may not be so bad, and can be repaired surgically but may be prone to tearing again and will leave you in a lot of pain for some time – but if the whole ligament ruptures, you will likely need a hamstring or patella graft (or similar) where pieces of the hamstring or patellar tendon are taken and fitted in the place of the ruptured ligament (hence the term ‘reconstruction’)
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What is the Difference Between a Claims Representative and an Actual Injury Lawyer?
In short- a big difference! And one that can severely affect the service level you receive during your claim but also the final settlement!
“We have been trying to contact you regarding your accident; we now have details of how much you can claim”
The above is the classic example of correspondence from a claims handling company- it is highly unlikely that this is from a reputable solicitor’s firm. There are some major points that I will address in this blog which hopefully will show that a claims management company is NEVER the best way to go- ALWAYS seek your own solicitor to act on the case for you.
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Not Happy With A Medical Report? What To Do!
It’s actually quite common for people not to be happy with their medical report – particularly in road accident cases. So why is this? Is the medical expert you have been sent to no good? Are your solicitors just not listening to you? What can you do?
To address something first, let me tell you the point of the medical report. We lawyers are, unfortunately, not medical experts. To win a claim for compensation, you need to commonly satisfy two key elements – that the injury was caused by a breach of duty, and that the injuries were caused as a result of the incident or accident. In legal speak – liability and causation.
We need a suitable medical expert to examine you, discuss your injuries and suffering with you, and look in to your medical past. The expert, who is independent and has a duty not to you, but to the courts, to provide their impartial medical opinion, writes a report containing all the facts needed for a lawyer to prove that your injuries were caused by negligence and value the claim. So if you are a genuine client, what could go wrong?
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Guide to Ligament Injury Compensation
When you think of serious injuries, most people think fractures – but damaging your ligaments can be equally as devastating, as I am all too familiar with myself! You think breaking your leg is bad? Try rupturing several ligaments in your knee requiring you to undergo a multi ligament reconstruction operation! Anyway – to define, a ligament is a soft fibrous tissue that connects bone to bone. You have them all over the body – and the famous ones to injure (for the footballers out there) are the dreaded cruciates!
There are several ways you can injure ligaments. In many cases, ligaments are stretched beyond their normal range of movement, and you end up with pain, swelling, stiffness, and the usual muscular related symptoms that will normally die down over time. However, things get a little more serious when you tear or rupture ligaments.
A torn ligament is exactly what you’re thinking – the tissue is torn; normally due to an overstretch far beyond the capacity the tissue has to stretch. Torn ligaments can be very painful – you will normally know when you’ve done it! The pain is normally enough to warrant you needing to see a GP or a medical expert, so you can usually get a diagnosis from them. For many torn ligaments – in the leg in the arm – after a few weeks or months you are commonly back to normal. However, some crucial tears like knee ligaments or elbow ligaments may require an operation.
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