Even what are classed as minor knee dislocation injuries can be extremely serious indeed, leaving the victim with potentially lifelong problems. If you’re after advice about knee dislocation compensation claims, I can offer it you both as an employee of a specialist injury law firm and as a victim myself.
I dislocated my knee in 2012 rupturing both collaterals and the lateral meniscus, and suffering an avulsion fracture as the ACL pulled off the bone – so read on for my advice.
What you can claim for
You can claim for the pain, suffering, and loss of amenity caused. Depending on the seriousness of the dislocation, you could end up with at least one or two remedial operations and you will more than likely have a lengthy period of physical rehabilitation to go through. A lot of the operations lead to a lengthy period of non-weight bearing which can lead to rapid muscular waste. You’ll likely need some hardcore rehabilitation to get your muscles back up to strength again. Trust me – it’s scary just how quickly the size of your leg shrinks when you can’t use the muscles for a few weeks.
You will probably need to rely on the help of others as well, so you can make a claim for care and assistance on an hourly rate basis. This can cover personal washing, clothing, shopping, cooking and cleaning for you etc…
You can also claim for losses and expenses like lost earnings form time off work, or travel expenses to and from medical or treatment appointments.
When it comes to where you are on the scale of severity, I’ll use the official guidelines to give you a very rough guide when it comes to payouts. Really the value of the claim is down to your individual circumstances, so the below is just a guide and is open for interpretation. I’ll split the advice in to several categories:
Moderate Cases
Using the official guidelines, you would likely fall within the ‘moderate’ knee injury category which covers the first instance of dislocations. Dislocations leading to tears in the ligaments resulting in minor instability and some future weakness could fall within this category; or perhaps the ligaments may be severely stretched or you may suffer an avulsion fracture where the ligament pulls off the bone.
Thankfully bone injuries normally heal quite well, and for those who will not face too much disability in the future may see payouts ranging between £10,600 and £18,700.
Severe, but ‘Less Severe’ Cases
The ‘severe’ category in the official guidelines is divided in to three sections, and this is the first of them. There may be continuing disability and risk of future degenerative changes, and incidents resulting in the need for remedial surgery caused by a tear or rupture can fall within this bracket.
Payouts can be between £18,700 and £31,000 depending on the seriousness of the case.
Knee Joint Fractures
The next step up specifically mentions leg fractures that extend to the knee joint, resulting in permanent limitations of movement with the risk of osteoarthritis or arthroplasty in the future.
Payouts range according to the official guidelines are £37,250 to £49,800.
Most Severe Cases
Disruption of the joint leading to multi-ligament injuries, such as several ligament ruptures requiring surgery, a lengthy period of rehabilitation, and the likelihood of future problems may fall within this category. From my initial injury to discharge from physiotherapy, the period was around eight months although I did have some further complications and needed another operation for nerve damage as well. So that aside, multi-ligament reconstruction procedures can fall within the category.
The bracket ranges are £49,800 to £68,750.
Sources: JC Guidelines
