Nearly everyone will suffer an injury following an accident sometime in their life. Whether it is a trip or fall at home, a road traffic accident or an injury sustained at work, accidents happen, but thankfully, most are not serious and may only involve a few cuts and bruises. However, some accidents result in injuries that require you to have time off work, while other injuries can be very serious indeed.
Serious injury
A serious injury is one that is deemed to have a considerable impact on your life. A head injury, spinal damage, multiple fractures, severe psychological trauma or injuries leading to amputations are all classed as serious injuries. These sorts of injuries can affect the rest of your life, and after sustaining such an injury, you may have to give up work or have to change the way you live. In cases of serious injury, a claim for compensation is important to help you cope with the financial and physical difficulties resulting from a serious injury.
Damages
Compensation for serious injury comes in two forms. The first is ‘general damages,’ which is compensation paid for the pain, trauma and the effect the injury has on your way of life. The more serious the injury, and the more of an impact it has, the more money is awarded. The second form of compensation is known as ‘special damages,’ which is compensation paid for any loss of income or costs resulting from the injury. If you have to give up work for any amount of time, even permanently, special damages will compensate you for the money you would have earned.
Compensation
If you receive a serious injury resulting from an accident that was somebody else’s fault, the damages could be substantial. When calculating damages, a court bases the payment on several factors, including how serious the injury is, how traumatic the accident was, how much the injury affects your way of life, any financial losses caused by the injury, and how much blame is attributed to the third party from whom you are claiming. Depending on these factors, serious injury compensation can range from a few thousand pounds to several million.
