An increasing number of women are choosing home birth, the perception being that it is safer, cleaner and a better birthing experience. In some circumstances this can be true and after careful consideration by a doctor or a midwife this service can be offered through the NHS. However, some women are turning away from the perceived failures of the NHS and putting their trust into independent midwives.

Whilst some women are getting the experience they hoped for, others are not. In one recent high profile case, the independent midwife who delivered J K Rowling’s two children recorded a high foetal heart rate of 190 beats per minute, over 30 beats over the accepted safe rate, and yet failed to act upon this result. Instead, she continued with labour as normal and only checked the heart rate again after another hour had passed. Eventually, having recorded a dangerously high foetal heart rate on 5 occasions and realising the baby was in the wrong position, an ambulance was called for and the independent midwife then left the mother to wait for the arrival of the paramedics alone.
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Accidents at work are a very common occurrence, probably more so than people think. However it goes without saying that a lot of minor accidents at work are often unreported and even ignored.

This is often because employees are scared to make a fuss over such instances.
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If you decide to claim after being involved in a road traffic accident, you must be aware of something called Third Party Capture. This is basically steps taken by the insurance company to settle your claim directly with you. This provides an opportunity for the insurers to make a financial gain by under settling your claim.

Here’s how it works.. If you have been involved in a road traffic accident you’ll find that you’ll be contacted by many different parties in an attempt to have a hand in your compensation claim. Even the insurance company for the person at fault may contact you to try and persuade you to make a claim directly through them. The third parties insurance company will tell you that it will be in your interests to make a claim with them. They will tell you that; your claim will be settled in a short amount of time, perhaps a matter of weeks. You could have your compensation in your bank account almost immediately.
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The majority of you reading this will probably be unaware that as from last week the protocol which solicitors and insurers follow for pursuing claims for compensation has changed. There has always been a protocol that governs the claiming world, and it’s what lawyers and insurers use in order to manage claims efficiently – the rules are important for claims to be completed properly!

And as of Friday April 30^th 2010, the new Road Traffic Accident Protocol comes in to affect, which will now be used as the rules and regulations for all road traffic accident claims that occur on or after the date mentioned above!
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Road traffic accidents – there pretty straightforward when it comes to claiming compensation for them. In fact they are the most clear-cut claims for injury there can be. The reason is that in a road traffic accident the blame is usually quite easy to establish. And there are many ways a road user can be liable for compensation through negligent driving. One of the more regular driving offences that can lead to accidents is speeding :

Speed limits are there for a very good reason – to save lives! Speed limits are set for roads according to the type of road in question. For example most city roads and populated areas (I’m sure you already know!) have 30mph speed limits given that they are densely populated with other drivers and pedestrians. A motorway of course is set at 70mph as the intended purpose is just for motor vehicle travel between the junctions – there aren’t any pedestrians or turns and cross roads to navigate. So it’s safe to travel at a higher speed.
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We think we’ve seen it all when it comes to strange mishaps on the road and then you read something else that makes you think in amazement…”Just how did that happen?”

One of my fellow colleagues wrote an article just a few months ago regarding the scary incident whereby a woman’s vehicle became trapped on the front of a lorry and was pushed along for 1 mile before the lorry driver noticed what had happened!

Well, on browsing today’s news pages I couldn’t help noticing a small article on the BBC News website titled “Mystery of US dangling vehicle” (BBC News Source).

How could you not be intrigued to have a look at the latest road wierd and wonderful road mishap?!
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The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) are looking at proposals for reducing the cost of NHS claims over the next year. Muiris Lyons, was quoted as saying, “We as lawyers owe a wider duty to society to ensure that the cost of claims remains both proportionate and reasonable… We can’t ignore that there are significant costs to the NHS. We know how the system works and can improve it without restricting access to justice for our clients.”

A recent report by the NHS Litigation Authority highlighted that in 2008/09 the NHS paid out over £807million in compensation claims.

It is also claimed that costs spiral because the NHS takes too long to settle claims. Medical negligence lawyer, Russell Levy, spoke about the NHS unwillingness to speed up claims in a recent BBC news story (source). “They (the NHS) hope the harder they make it and the more they discourage people, they will go away,” he said. “By the time they accept the inevitable, it costs much more than it should.”

It will be interesting to see what action APIL proposes to help speed up the process in the coming months ahead.

It’s probably best to firstly consider how the accident has affected your life. Perhaps you have had to take time off work, in which case you may have lost out on your earnings. You might have needed to be cared for in the period of time it took for you to recover. In all of these cases it would be most advisable to get the help of a specialist injury lawyer. But, who do you chose?

The best help you can get is from an independent firm of solicitors that have not paid a referral fee for your claim. Always go direct to real Injury Lawyers and not “middlemen” and that way you will know that your claim hasn’t been bought by the highest bidding Law firm from claims resellers (middlemen). Make sure you then look around and choose a company that is dedicated to its clients and to achieving the best result for you.

In a lot of Road Traffic Accidents, Legal Expense Insurance will probably crop up. Your Insurance Company will tell you that they will pay for all your legal fees when pursuing your claim and that they will refer you to one of their own expert solicitors – sounds quite reasonable on the surface, and it may even seem as though they are saving you a lot of time and hassle.
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Medical negligence – by definition this is generally when a medical expert or attendant makes an error that is detrimental to the patient being treated. It can range from anything to a simple miss-diagnosis leading to incorrect medication being prescribed, to an error made during surgery. And on occasions medical negligence can have severe consequences; even fatal…

So here’s an example of medical negligence in its worst element. Fortunately not fatal, but leaving the patient with horrific (if that’s the correct word to describe it) and permanent consequences…

According to sources from the BBC (source), a surgeon has been struck off the register after he removed a patient’s testicle by mistake!  Being male, this really doesn’t bare thinking about and is an absolute tragedy of a story to be honest.
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And the answer is…. I don’t know! In fact, without medical evidence, no one knows exactly how much your claim could potentially be worth. We experts could give you an idea or two, but ultimately it cannot be determined without good, independent medical evidence.

So How’s it Work?

Well what us specialist personal injury lawyers always make sure to do is get you seen by an independent medical expert. A consultant specialising in medico-legal reporting is qualified to assess the full extent of your injuries. They will produce an expert report that will give us all the information we need to value the claim. We then use a combination of our extensive experience combined with some quality case law (cases with similar injuries and similar accident circumstances), and the JSB (Judicial Studies Board) guidelines in order to put some pounds on your injuries.
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