Chest injury claims are known to be a difficult ones to value as the majority are industrial diseases. Here I will be looking at more physical chest injuries, which are often minor – but when they’re serious, they often have a significant impact on the victim’s life.
I’ll split this article in to two parts – first for the general minor injuries and the second for the significant internal injuries.
Orthopaedic and general minor chest injuries
These kinds of chest injuries are common in high impact road accidents and falls. In any claim you will typically be able to recover compensation for the physical suffering and loss of amenity caused as well as any financial losses such as lost earnings.
The most common claims will be for fractured ribs or soft tissue injuries to the chest area. Normally you will not be given an x-ray to diagnose fractured ribs and you will simply be advised whether it is likely that you have fractured them or not. The reason for this is that there is normally nothing that can be done for cracked or fractured ribs – they just need to heal up in their own time.
These sorts of claims can attract payouts of up to around £3,000.
Collapsed lungs can be common in similar sorts of accidents as well. Whilst it sounds horrendous, most collapsed lung cases are uncomplicated and people generally make a full recovery. Where this is the case, the payout can go up to the top end of the bracket of around £4,000.
An internal injury like a simple penetrating wound that results in some permanent injury but no significant long term effect on lung function can be worth £9,000 to £12,850 according to the guidelines we use.
Finally, minor toxic smoke or toxic fume inhalation injuries where the damage done is not serious enough to cause any lifelong impairment in the lungs can have awards between £3,825 and £9,000.
More Severe and Internal Chest Injuries
In the worst case scenario there would be the removal of one lung and / or serious heart damage. Either of these will have lifelong effects, and the payouts for the injures alone may not be anywhere near as much as the payout for the losses and expenses side of things.
When we take a look at the official guidelines for these sorts of injuries when it comes to payouts, it’s important to remember that the claim for lost earnings, care and assistance, medical expenses etc is often what makes up the majority of the claim. The amounts for the injury alone are just there to reflect the pain and suffering caused.
All claims are valued properly using medical evidence and having a specialist qualified personal injury lawyer though. But the bracket for these sorts of awards for the injury alone range between £71,850 and £107,250.
Factors that are taken in to account are:
- Age and gender
- Scarring
- The effect on the capacity to work and enjoy life
- The effect on life expectancy
Other severe injuries in this category that are less serious are – traumatic injury to the chest, lung(s) and / or heart causing permanent damage that impairs organ function, results in physical disability, and causes a reduction in like expectancy which has a bracket of £46,900 to £71,850.
Other injuries to the chest and lungs that cause continuing disability but are less severe are set at between £22,350 and £39,150.
It is always so important to instruct a specialist personal injury law firm for these kinds of injury claims. Not only are we experts in our field, which means we can get better awards than other lawyers, but we can save you thousands of pounds as well by not taking the full 25% most firms do as a minimum.
For advice call us on 0800 634 75 75 today.
