Industry news roundup: week ended 22 Dec 2014:
The personal injury compensation market isn’t all just car accidents and slips and trips on broken pavement – there’s medical negligence claims as well.
There’s something particularly depressing and heartbreaking when it comes to medical negligence claims, especially since they usually stem from a terrible, debilitating injury or ailment that would have never occurred if it wasn’t for a mistake made by medical professionals. The worst of these cases are most certainly those that happen to young children or newborn infants, as it sets these unfortunate kids with a lifetime of pain and suffering.
A good example of this is the teenager from Belfast who recently received a massive £8 million in personal injury compensation after it was proven that his spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy was a result of an improperly treated infection just after his birth. The poor child also ended up with learning difficulties and epilepsy – as if his other injuries weren’t enough – and having to need constant 24 hour a day care.
So on the one hand it’s fantastic to hear that this poor teenager has received such a huge settlement amount. You know as well as I do that he’s going to need that cash as he grows older to be able to afford the things he needs, like a specially adapted home and the round the clock medical care he’s going to need in order to survive. It’s exactly why his personal injury solicitors worked so hard to get him that weighty award.
On the other hand, I am absolutely positive that the poor teen and his family would trade away every single penny just to be made whole. I know that if I had a child in the same predicament I would quite literally give my own arm and a leg to heal my own son or daughter. My heart absolutely goes out to this family for everything they have had to go through, and I can only hope that they can get a bit of respite now that the lawsuit is over and their personal injury claims have been settled against the hospital responsible for the tragic events.