Priorities - What do You Really Want?
It is easier to decide whether to take legal action if you are
clear about your priorities.
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Diagnosis and effective treatment
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An apology
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To ensure no-one else suffers the
same injury
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Help with overcoming your injury
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A better quality of life
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Help with building a new life to
suit your present circumstances
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Support and encouragement
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Immediate financial help
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Compensation
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Diagnosis and effective treatment
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Consult your doctor if no progress is being made.
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If you are suffering constant pain despite treatment, ask to
be referred to a pain clinic. The least your doctor/specialist
can do is to help you cope with the pain.
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Health websites are useful sources of information about medical
conditions. Some information may be inaccurate, misleading or
alarmist. Don't panic. Discuss any fears with a medical professional.
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Find a support group
- what has helped them?
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A personal injury lawyer will need
to obtain a diagnosis of your medical condition and to be informed
about all the treatment options. In some cases the claim will
include the cost of private treatment.
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An apology
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A complaint may enable you to recover minor expenses (perhaps
to cover damage to clothes or time taken off work for treatment)
without resorting to legal action.
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Complaints can be time consuming but do not affect your right
to take legal action. Don't let delays distract you until the
time limit for taking legal action has expired. Seek legal advice
about the time-limits that apply to your case.
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The Citizens Advice
Bureau and the PALS (patient advocacy and liaison service)
team at your local hospital can help you to complain quickly
and effectively. The PALS team offer help advice and support
to deal with issues concerning doctors, hospitals, pharmacists,
dentists and nurses. They have direct access to the chief executive
of their local NHS trust. Their aim is to address problems before
they reach the official complaint procedure. The
Patient's Association has a booklet (downloadable) with
full details of complaints procedures for NHS and private treatment.
Complaints should be made as soon as possible and preferably
within 6 months.
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Try and make your complaint as clear and specific as possible
- what happened? - what were the adverse consequences? - what
do you want them to do about it?
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To ensure no-one else suffers the same
injury
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How many people would start complex medical negligence cases
if they were given an apology, explanation and assurance that
action had been taken to prevent it happening again? These aspects
can be included in cases settled by mediation.
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Try to discover what went wrong and campaign for changes -
there may be a campaign group on the issue e.g.
RoSPA, RoadPeace.
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Help with overcoming
your injury
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Most 'victims' want to lead a full and rewarding life despite
their injury. Taking legal action can help but there could be
a conflict between obtaining maximum compensation and being
proactive in overcoming your injury.
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Do you treasure your independence and misguidedly try to give
the impression you are coping? We are all dependent on thousands
of other people for the basics of everyday life.
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Don't be afraid to ask for help - people who care for you will
want to help you. Tell your friends
and family what helps and what doesn't.
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Ask your doctor to refer you to social services, physiotherapists,
occupational therapists or psychologists as appropriate.
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Costs for appropriate care, psychotherapy and aids are usually
included in personal injury claims so your lawyer
should ensure your needs are assessed.
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Find a support group
- learn from the experience of others and meet people who understand
how you feel and accept you as you are.
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Test the theory that laughter is the best medicine - try imagining
your toes laughing - go out with friends, read cartoons, watch
comedy films…
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A better quality of life
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Help with
building a new life to suit your present circumstances
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Is a return to your old life a realistic option? If
not, try your best to accept it. Only then can you start
to build a new life. I enjoy life despite my chronic pain. Everyone's
life has some restriction. If you keep dreaming of a normal
life, remember that the definition of normal is ordinary - do
you really want to be ordinary?
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Keep testing your boundaries - it helps to have an open mind
and plenty of patience.
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Support and encouragement
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Ask for help from friends, family and professionals.
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Find a support group
- for ideas, support and role models.
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Immediate financial help
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Are you covered by personal accident or permanent health insurance
- does your employer have a policy that covers you?
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The Citizens Advice
Bureau can help you with claims for benefits and give advice
on dealing with debts.
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Compensation
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There is an element of risk in every activity and most accidents
could be prevented. Personal injury claims can only succeed
if your injury was at least partly due to the negligence of
a third party with a duty of care towards you.
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Money can give financial security but can't compensate for
pain and suffering.
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Some cases will be rejected by lawyers because there is little
chance of winning the case. If the claim would be too small
(usually less than £5,000) to warrant paying legal fees,
they might advise you to pursue the case through the Small Claims
Court.
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Most people receive justice but no legal system is perfect.
For every headline about an outrageous claim, there is the tragedy
of a victim who lost a seemingly strong case.
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Before you choose a lawyer, decide
what you want him/her to do for you.
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If your life is still adversely affected, are you happy to
trust a solicitor with your entire future? Or can you
do something now to improve your quality
of life? If there is a compromise between improving your
quality of life and maximising the compensation for your injury.
What do you really want? To enjoy life as much as possible or
to sit around miserably - 'playing the victim'?
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Weigh up the potential stress of taking legal action against
the possible benefits. Some people sail through whilst others
take it too seriously. I asked for my case to be settled when
the stress seemed to be affecting my health. Ironically the
'stress' was actually gluten intolerance. It helped having friends
who encouraged me not to 'let the b******* get you down.'
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