Life Changing Injury Claims

When you think of catastrophic injuries, it’s easy to picture someone who has been injured by a drunk driver or in an industrial accident. These are classic examples of catastrophic injury claims and cases that are commonly settled out of court with a large sum of money. However, there are many other types of injuries that can be considered catastrophic.

Catastrophic injuries include spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, burns and amputations, caused by negligence or recklessness. It is often difficult for people who have suffered one of these debilitating conditions to get back on their feet again:

• They may have lost their job due to the injury or become unable to continue working as they once did
• They may not be able to care for themselves properly
• They may lose their independence altogether if they are unable to perform day-to-day tasks independently such as bathing themselves or cooking food

If your life has been turned upside down because someone else’s reckless actions caused your injury—you need to know that there is help available.

To find out more about beginning a life changing injury personal injury claim, call us free on 0800 234 6438 and speak to a trained legal advisor. They will partner you with specialist personal injury lawyers with expertise in helping people living with the aftermath of a serious injury or catastrophic injury, make a compensation claim.

Life changing injuries, or catastrophic injuries, are the sort of injuries that have a significant impact not just on you and your quality of life, but on the lives of those around you. These injuries could be permanent disability, they could result in long term health problems, they could even reduce your life expectancy.

The most common types of life changing injuries include, but aren’t limited to:

• Birth injury – find out more about making birth injury claims
• Brain damage or brain injury
• Spinal cord injury
• Amputation or loss of limbs
• Permanent disability
• Permanent scarring
• Oxygen deprivation
• Sight loss, smell loss or hearing loss

A catastrophic injury is one that results in permanent long-term disability. A person with a catastrophic injury will never fully recover, and they’ll likely need help to perform the simplest of tasks.

The most common causes of catastrophic injuries are car accidents, slip, trip and fall accidents, lorry accidents, industrial accidents, and workplace injuries.

Injuries sustained at work are a common cause of catastrophic injuries and life-changing injuries. Workers often suffer these types of injuries because employers have failed to provide adequate safety measures, such as training and equipment.

Employers have a legal obligation to create safe working environments for their employees and can be held legally responsible if they fail to meet this standard.

Physical assault is a criminal offence and can result in catastrophic injuries. Physical assault may be carried out with the use of weapons such as bats, knives or guns, but can also occur without the use of weapons when one individual uses their own body parts or body weight to cause harm to another person.

Injuries resulting from physical assault can include: crushed bones, deep cuts, severe bruising, damaged internal organs (e.g., brain injury), paralysis and death.

If you’ve been attacked by a dog, find out more about making a dog bite claim.

Car accidents are the leading cause of catastrophic injuries, and in some cases can result in life-changing injuries or even death. Car accidents can cause a variety of serious injuries that may require lifelong medical care, for example:

• Brain damage. If the brain is damaged it may result in paralysis or loss of motion, hearing, sight or speech.
• Spinal cord injury. A spinal cord injury is when there is damage to the spinal nerves that control movement below where the injury occurred. This type of injury often leaves people with partial paralysis as well as pain throughout their entire body.

Slip and fall accidents are one of the most common causes of catastrophic injuries. Slip and falls can occur on any surface. These accidents can result in broken bones, head injuries, as well as spinal damage or brain damage.

Medical negligence is any action or inaction by a doctor or other medical professional who does not provide the standard of care expected. It can lead to an incorrect diagnosis, procedure, prescription, or use of equipment, which in turn can cause serious injuries, even death.

Medical negligence can result from the actions (or inactions) of a doctor, nurse or other medical professional at any point during their treatment of you.

If you have sustained a life-changing injury, and you believe that someone else is responsible for it, then it’s important for you to understand the extent of your injury. These types of injuries, like hearing loss for example, are permanent in nature. They will not get better or go away. The effects of these injuries will affect your daily life and can also affect your work or hobbies.

While early rehabilitation can be beneficial to getting you on the road to recovery, and helping avoid long term health problems, it can’t turn back time and undo the damage that was done. Plus, this type of rehabilitation doesn’t come cheaply. And if you were injured through no fault of your own, yet you’ve had to pay for the cost of that rehabilitation out of your own pocket, it’s not fair that you should have to incur financial losses just to get better.

When your injuries are as severe as this, it’s crucial that you fight for all the compensation you need and deserve. This means getting in touch with a specialist personal injury lawyer, someone who specialises in hearing loss claims, for example, and explaining why this happened, who’s responsible, and what kind of compensation would be fair.

Life changing injuries don’t just impact you, by their very nature, their reach is wide, and they affect your family too. Which is why it’s essential you claim compensation. You can’t turn the clock back with your compensation, but what the money will allow you to do is access the best care and support that both you and your family deserve.

For example:

• Private medical treatment
• Early rehabilitation
• Support aids and specialist equipment
• Care support for you
• Relief support for your family
• Housing and vehicle adaptations

Because of the severity of their nature, life changing injuries tend to attract the highest compensation awards, sometimes running into millions of pounds. Life changing injury claims are typically divided into two parts: general damages and special damages.

This is compensation to cover the physical and mental pain and suffering you’ve endured, and the impact your life changing injury has had on your quality of life. The amount of money awarded in these cases depends on several factors:

• How much time has passed since the accident
• What kind of injuries have occurred
• How badly injured you are.

This part of the compensation is to cover specific costs you’ve incurred as a result of your life changing injury. For example: loss of earnings, loss of future earning potential, loss of pension contributions, cost of care and treatment including private medical treatment, early rehabilitation, adaptations to your house or car to accommodate a permanent disability etc.

We can’t give you a specific amount of compensation that you could be awarded, each claim is unique, however you can get a rough estimate using our compensation calculator, or using the Judicial College Guidelines to guide you. These are compiled from recent similar court cases, and give an approximate range for specific injuries:

• Very severe brain damage caused by a work injury – £300,000 to £330,000
• Quadriplegia caused by a work injury – £300,000 – £330,000
• Loss of both arms caused by a work injury – £220,000 – £242,000

If you suffer with a life changing injury claim, you have three years from when the injury happened, or when you became aware of it (whichever is later), to make your claim.

There are exceptions to the rule such as if the person who suffered the catastrophic injuries was under 18 when they were injured, they have three years from their 18th birthday to make a claim. If the claimant doesn’t have mental capacity to make a claim, there is no time limit.

To bring a successful claim, the first thing you will need to do is prove that the other party was negligent, and you suffered as a result. This is not always as simple as it sounds, but it can be done.

You will need to prove that your injury was caused by that negligence; if someone else’s actions were responsible for your injury and those actions were negligent in some way (for example a dangerous condition or lack of safety training), then there is a connection between their actions and your life changing injury.

Next you have to show that you have been injured as a result of this negligence. To help bolster your case, try to gather as much supporting evidence as possible, this can include:

• witness statements
• accident log books
• medical reports
• photographs
• receipts for expenses incurred

If you’re living with a life changing injury, call 0800 234 6438 and speak with a trained legal advisor about beginning your claim. They will partner you with a leading UK personal injury solicitor who will be by your side every step of the way, working for you on a no win no fee basis.

There is literally no financial risk to you starting your personal injury claim. What have you got to lose?