Hospital Injury Compensation

A Guide to Hospital Injury Compensation

When hearing the term “Hospital Injury Compensation” many people automatically assume medical negligence, but there are many forms of accidents and injuries which can lead to somebody making a hospital injury compensation claim.

Clearly, medical negligence is one – where a medical practitioner who owes a patient a duty of care fails to produce a professional performance to the physical detriment of that patient – however injuries such as a slip, trip or fall on hospital premises which are due to negligence and injuries sustained by hospital staff in the pursuit of their duties might also qualify for hospital injury compensation.

There is no Hospital Injury Compensation without an Injury

As obvious as it may seem, if an injury or loss has not been sustained, there is no justification for making a hospital injury compensation claim. Even when a surgical error has occurred due to the lack of care by a surgeon, if there is no injury as a result, you are unable to make a claim for hospital injury compensation.

A “near miss”, no matter how alarming it may have been, does not constitute an injury unless some quantifiable psychological damage has been caused, and even if a case of medical negligence is discovered many years later – for example a swab left inside the body during a surgical operation – it does not constitute grounds for hospital injury compensation unless an injury has somehow been sustained.

Negligence has to be Proven in a Hospital Injury Claim

It is also essential in a hospital injury claim that negligence has occurred. Whereas this may be straightforward if you have slipped and fallen on a wet surface where no warnings were provided of the hazard, or been injured because you were required to lift heavy patients with no assistance, in many cases determining the cause of an injury in a hospital can be problematic.

Even when an injury has occurred during a medical procedure, it has to be proven that the injury was “on the balance of all probability” avoidable in the circumstances and, frequently, there are so many stages involved in the administration of medicine or the performance of an operation, that one of a number of people could have been the party responsible for the negligent act – or lack of action.

Your Health is More Important than Hospital Injury Compensation

Once it has been established that an injury has occurred, it is important that your health takes priority. With most hospital injuries, the symptoms will show immediately and you should go to the accident and emergency department to receive an examination. With hospital acquired infections, you should not refrain from telling medical staff that you feel unwell because they are busy or because you do not want to seem ungrateful for the service they have given you for your original ailment.

Symptoms of a condition which may manifest due to medical negligence should be addresses immediately, as it may not only be your health which suffers as a result. If you make a claim for hospital negligence compensation many months after the symptoms have developed, it could be counter-claimed that your own lack of care (by not seeking medical treatment immediately) contributed to your injury, and the amount of hospital injury compensation you receive may be decreased as a result.

What is Included in Hospital Injury Compensation

Once you are receiving treatment for your injuries, you should speak with a solicitor about making a hospital injury compensation claim. A solicitor will assess the strength of your case and advise you whether you have a claim for hospital injury compensation which is worth your while to pursue. If so, the damages you could expect to receive would include:-

General damages for pain and suffering. Hospital injury compensation for pain and suffering is not just limited to the trauma you experienced at the time of your injury, but throughout your recovery period as well. You might also qualify for psychological damages if it can be proven that you suffered mentally as a result of your injuries and for “loss of amenity”, if your injuries have resulted in a deterioration in your quality of life.

Special damages for costs and expenses. Any cost or expense that you incur as a direct result of your injury can be claimed back through a hospital injury compensation claim. These damages can include the cost of ongoing treatments following your discharge from hospital, any loss of income you have suffered while you were incapacitated and any legal fees you have to pay in advance to pursue your hospital injury compensation claim.

As no two claims for hospital injury compensation are identical, it is in your best interests to speak with a solicitor at your earliest possible convenience.

Early Settlement of Hospital injury Compensation Claims

Another viable reason for seeking legal advice is if you are approached by a medical insurance company with an offer of early settlement for your hospital injury claim. When an injury has occurred which is clearly due to the negligence of a hospital or one of its staff, they may be quick to acknowledge liability to their insurance company before you have even considered making a hospital injury compensation claim. These offers are usually in the insurance company´s best interests and not those of the patient so, by consulting with a solicitor, you will have an idea of how much hospital injury compensation you are entitled to receive and respond to the insurance company´s approach appropriately.

Hospital Injury Compensation Claims and the Statute of Limitations

The Statute of Limitations is a law which limits the amount of time people have in which to make a hospital injury compensation claim from the date on which they knew that had sustained an injury. For most hospital injury compensation claims, this “date of knowledge” will be on the day that the accident which led to their injuries occurred, but for some the discovery of an injury may be many years after the event. Once an injury is diagnosed, claimants have three years in which to make a claim for hospital injury compensation – the exception being cases which involve children, who have three years from the date of their eighteenth birthday in which to make a claim unless it is made on their behalf by a parent or guardian in the intervening period.

Speak With a Solicitor about Claims for Hospital Injury Compensation

Making a hospital injury compensation claim against persons or a facility which does so much good can often cause inner conflict. Even though the law entitles you to make a claim for hospital injury compensation, you may be apprehensive about the idea due to moral beliefs, concerns about the costs or because you believe the procedures are too complicated. It costs nothing to speak with a solicitor, air your concerns and receive some valuable and practical advice. Thereafter, you can decide whether you wish to proceed with a hospital injury compensation claim from an educated position.