Most fractures can cause a significant degree of disability, discomfort, and loss of amenity. A broken wrist will normally put most people out of work for at least a few weeks in even the simplest of cases.
So if you have been the victim of a broken wrist injury and you think you may be able to make a claim for personal injury compensation, read on for what you need to know when it comes to what you can claim for and what you can expect to receive.
What you can claim for?
The injury side of things, known as Genera Damages, comes down to the extent and severity of any suffering caused – but you can also claim for financial losses and expenses as well which are known as Special Damages. In the case of a fractured wrist we can look at things such as:
- The length of any pain and suffering
- The length of any reduced mobility
- Whether any operations were required
- Whether there will be permanent problems
- Whether the injured wrist is on your dominant side
- The effect on your life domestically, socially and at work
- Whether you required any physiotherapy or other rehabilitation
- The loss in earnings from time off work or lost of holiday entitlement – including bonus pay as well
- The cost of any pain medication or other associated expenses and losses
How we value this is simple – we will send you to see at least one medical expert who will produce a report that we will use to value the claim. Normally in the case of a bone injury like this it will be an orthopaedic expert and this report will comment on all of the above.
When it comes to lost earnings and expenses our medical expert can agree in their report that such losses and expenses are justifiable. If they are we can then use any evidence you have to put a figure on these – we can use receipts, invoices, wage slips etc.
Private physiotherapy with The Injury Lawyers
Before we go on to the potential value of the claim, it’s worth noting that we offer funding for private medical care that we then include as part of the case. We could fund a series of private physiotherapy sessions and we’ll arrange for the fees to be paid for and then recovered at the end of the case. The other side is liable to compensate you for such expenses.
How much is a broken wrist injury claim worth?
It really all does depend on the severity and longevity of your injury but I can tell you about the official guidelines to give you a rough idea as to what you may be looking at.
- Simple undisplaced fractures with a recovery of up to 12 weeks – £2,500 to £3,375
- An uncomplicated Colles’ (distal radius) fracture – in the region of £5,300
- Where a recovery is complete but takes longer the clam could be worth up to £7,350
Where the injury may leave permanent problems the value could be in excess of £10,000 and will depend entirely on the nature of the case. It is difficult to describe where a person can fit on the brackets for these sorts of injuries as the brackets can be very wide.