Nerve Damage Compensation Claims

Nerve Damage Compensation Claims

Nerve damage compensation claims are made when an individual takes legal action against his surgeon for acts of negligence during a surgical procedure which has caused him or her or a loved one an avoidable nerve damage or injury leading to various other health problems such as pain, impaired mobility and other health complications.

Nerve damage compensation claims are fast becoming a very common type of surgical claim especially as there are more surgical procedures performed yearly in the UK. All surgical procedures come with an associated risk and thus surgeons and indeed every medical practitioner needs to take the best possible care to avoid or minimize such injuries. During operations, surgeons work closely to various body nerves and when any such nerves are damaged because the surgeon was negligent causing long term or permanent health problems to the patient, such a patient or the loved ones can make a claim on their behalf suing the surgeon for nerve damage.

All medical professionals which includes surgeons owe their patients a “Duty of Care”. This means they are obligated to give their patients the best possible care according to global best practices and if your surgeon, doctor or nurse falls below the standard that would be expected, then they have been negligent.

Our medical negligence experts who are specialists in surgeon negligence and nerve damage compensation claims have represented many clients who have suffered nerve damage as a result of avoidable surgical error. We therefore have the expertise to give a strong legal representation as we have done for others and win you a deserved nerve damage claim compensation.

What Is Nerve Damage?

Nerve damage or nerve injury occurs when a doctor or surgeon fails to detect the presence of a nerve during an operation and which leads to life altering consequences. Nerves are responsible for controlling sensation as they relay information from one part of the body to another.

Nerve damage is no doubt a very serious condition leading to mobility problems, loss of sensation and feeling, extreme pain, and in the very serious cases, paralysis. It is therefore unacceptable that a patient should suffer nerve damage as a result of a surgical error. 

There could be nerve damage after surgery, nerve cut during surgery or even nerve damage post-surgery. Nerve damage can also result from poorly administered injections. When this happens, the body is unable to function normally. Nerve damage affects the relaying of messages from the central nervous system to various body parts and vice versa, loss of sensory perception, unusual tingling and muscle weakness.

Causes Of Nerve Damage

Nerve damage also known as peripheral neuropathy may arise from various circumstances which include;

• Surgical errors
• Crush injuries or traumatic injuries from road accidents
• Medication or treatment administered
• Spinal cord injury and cauda equina syndrome
• Avoidable compartment syndrome
• Exposure to toxic substances such as arsenic, lead or mercury, as a result of workplace/industrial negligence
• Unnecessary delays in diagnosis, treatment or giving the wrong treatment for conditions that can cause nerve damage, such as:
• Diabetes
• Lupus
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Coeliac disease
• Chronic liver or kidney disease
• Underactive thyroid gland
• Cancer
• Guillain-Barre syndrome

Nerve Damage After Surgery Symptoms

Persons who suffer from nerve damage experience several symptoms or changes to their normal body function. These changes could be long term or permanent, and some keep the individual needing round-the-clock care.

These include-

• Burning sensations 
• Tingling or numbness in the extremities.
• Loss of feeling.
• Loss of sight.
• Sharp pains in the affected area
• Sexual Dysfunction
• Bowel or bladder Incontinence
• Regularly dropping things
• Twitching
• Muscle atrophy 
• Complete paralysis or partial paralysis after a surgery.
• Cold feeling in the legs or arms.
• Legs or Arms feel heavy
• Difficulty in lifting up the foot or toes

Our nerve damage compensation solicitors can help you assess your claims and get your nerve damage compensation claims started immediately if you have a valid claim for negligence. 

It is therefore important that you speak to your lawyer as soon as possible for professional legal advice so that you may understand how you can make your claims and what is involved in doing so. There is no point delaying as it can result in you missing the chance to obtain justice for your suffering especially as medical negligence claims have a strict time limit for making claims.

Nerve Damage Caused By Medical Negligence

While there are different ways nerve damages can occur, our focus is on nerve damages caused by medical negligence. Over the years, our nerve damage claims solicitors have identified some common surgical mistakes that result in nerve damage for which an individual is legally entitled to make claims.

Every surgery comes with risks, and some can be very complicated that a side effect could be nerve damage. However, if your suffering was as a result of negligence, it is unacceptable and you are within your rights to take legal actions against your surgeon.

Surgeons owe their patients a “Duty of Care” are provided with all the knowledge and necessary facilities to ensure your surgery is safe as much as is possible in standard medical practice, and if they fail to utilize their knowledge and equipment available, causing you to suffer nerve damage, they have fallen below expectation and have breached the duty of care that they legally owe to you.

Some of the negligent treatment that leads to nerve damage include;

• Poorly-administered anaesthesia 
• Poorly performed extraction of blood samples via needles
• Hernia surgery, where there could be damage to the inguinal and genitofemoral nerves.
• Severed nerves during Knee replacement surgery
• Incorrect use of medical tools such as surgical retractors and tourniquets.
• Failure to diagnose or Misdiagnosis of certain degenerative health conditions related to the nervous system
• Nerve damage caused by a scalpel
• Inflammation of the surrounding tissue due to incorrect use of surgical equipment
• Applying excessive force on the nerve during surgery
• Incorrect positioning of patients during surgery

If you think that the nerve injury you or your loved one suffered may have been caused by surgeon negligence, please do reach out to our nerve damage compensation claims solicitors today for a free assessment of your medical negligence claim.

Nerve Damage Compensation Claims We Handle

• Nerve Damage Car Accident Compensation
• Knee Replacement Nerve Damage Claims
• Femoral Nerve Damage Lawsuit
• Nerve Damage After Surgery Lawsuit
• Dental Nerve Damage Claim

Is It Possible To Make An NHS Claim For Permanent Nerve Damage?

Suing the NHS for acts of medical negligence is not an easy task and so for a claim to succeed, there is need to check the entitlement to compensation. In other words, it is necessary to establish that the damage was solely as a result of medical negligence. It is true that not all surgeries will turn out exactly as you want. All surgeries also come with a measure of associated risks. Sometimes, there could be a temporary sensory loss following an operation which is common and there is a standard period for recovery.

When the surgery goes wrong due to negligent treatment and avoidable errors causing you to suffer unnecessarily from permanent nerve damage, then you can sue the NHS for negligence. Usually, an expert medical professional in that field will also be called upon to confirm that the operation was not carried out as expected of a skilled medical practitioner.

Why Should I Make Nerve Damage Compensation Claims?

Making a nerve damage compensation claim is not just about being awarded financial compensation for your nerve injury or damage, it is more about obtaining justice. It is also about ensuring that the health professionals take necessary precautions so that the surgical errors that led to your suffering does not reoccur again to another patient. It will also help the NHS or the Private Hospital whose staff is involved to make appropriate investigations and improvements to ensure that their patients are well taken care of and do not suffer unnecessarily in the hands of their healthcare providers.

Of course, it is important that you make a claim so that you can receive compensation for your injury, physical pain as well as emotional trauma you must have suffered. The compensation amount you receive can help to pay for the things you need so that you can have the best possible quality of life even in the present situation. Because nerve injuries can cause irreversible and lifelong damages to you which cannot be reversed by compensation, the compensation you receive will help you to access the medical treatment you need to ease your medical issues, and burden on your loved ones. It can also help financial losses you have incurred, costs of any specialist equipment as well as accommodation adaptations you may require.

In these circumstances, it is only fair that you receive a deserving settlement payout for your suffering and losses. Our medical negligence lawyers understand how difficult this time must be for you, and will ensure that you are well supported all the way from the initial consultation sessions until when you finally get your compensation.

How Do I Make Nerve Damage Compensation Claims?

To make a claim and sue a surgeon for negligent treatment, you need to present a strong case of medical negligence showing that you surgeon performed below standards and his actions or inactions has caused you to suffer harm. 

In other words, as a plaintiff, you need to prove that;

• Your surgeon or doctor owed you a duty of care
• Your surgeon or doctor breached that duty of care
• That breach in duty of care or failure to carry out his duty acceptably directly caused avoidable pain and suffering
• You have also incurred financial losses and other damages physically, psychologically and otherwise as a result of the error

You will need to provide certain relevant information and documents which will serve as evidence to prove your claims. Our nerve damage compensation claims solicitors can also help you access these documents if you are unable to do so. We will need an expert opinion from an Independent Medical expert after performing medical examinations on you to show you suffered as a result of clinical negligence and that a competent medical professional should have performed the surgery without performing that error.

These documents needed include;

• Detailed statements of all that transpired, the surgeon who performed the surgery and why you think you suffered as a result of negligence
• Medical test results and scans
• Witness statements from close friends or family
• Proof of financial losses 
• Pictures

Therefore, If you think you may have a nerve damage claim, then contact our team of medical negligence solicitors with a No Win No Fee assessment for your claim. Our lawyers are friendly, approachable, understanding and will give you the strong legal representation and legal advice you need to win your case.

How Does A Medical Negligence Claim Work?

During your consultation session with your lawyer, your lawyer will listen to your story and carefully make a thorough assessment of your claim and also advise you on what to do. If after a careful evaluation and they are convinced that you have a strong claim, they will now proceed to represent you.

In a nut-shell, the medical negligence claims process is as follows;

• Contact your lawyer
• Fund Your Claim
• Gather your Evidence
• Establish liability
• Negotiations between both parties
• Payment of Settlement

How Much Compensation Can I Claim For Nerve Damage?

As with every other medical negligence claim, the amount of settlement payout you are entitled to is not fixed but depends on various factors. Compensation payouts for nerve damage could be in hundreds of thousands or even more up to millions of pounds depending on the specifics of the claim.

When making claims for compensation, some factors which can determine your nerve damage compensation claim amount include;

• The type of nerve damage or injury suffered
• Severity of the injury
• Future prognosis or how long it will take before you recover fully
• Financial losses both past, present and estimated future losses
• Costs of further medical treatment and specialist care
• Travel expenses for medical treatment
• Costs of rehabilitation, therapy and purchase of mobility aids or other assistive devices.
• Costs of making accommodation adjustments to suit your present condition
• Costs of hiring caregivers, etc.

Calculating compensation amount will not be done off hat, your negligence solicitors will make use of the nerve damage compensation calculator, taking these factors and others as they apply to your case into consideration.

Your expert nerve damage negligence claims solicitors will go through the details of your claim and analyze how much you could be expected to receive. They will also take into account the severity of the injuries sustained, age of the victim, sex, consequence of the injury on the victim’s quality of your life. If the nerve damage has caused you debilitating and paralyzing injuries, then the compensation claim could be higher.

Your compensation claim will also include psychological damages and also special damages such as financial costs incurred, rehabilitation costs and any loss of income due to your injury.

Nerve damage compensation can be used for the following:

• Physiotherapy and other therapies as may be required 
• Hiring caregivers
• Private surgery or treatment
• Loss of earnings
• Accommodation adaptations
• Specialist equipment and vehicle

How Long Do I Have To Bring A Claim?

With all medical negligence claims there is a three-year period (known as the limitation period) within which you have to make your claims.   This is according to the Limitation Act of 1980. This period begins from the date of the negligence or the date you were first aware of the negligence.  When a claim is not made within this period, the claim will be statute barred (out of time).   

There are exceptions to these rules.  If you are a minor, then the three-year time limit does not start until your 18th birthday, meaning that you have until your 21st birthday to start Court proceedings. 

If the individual lacks the capacity either physically or mentally to make a claim (a medical assessment will be done to ascertain this), then the three-year limitation period will be waived.  The Court also has the power to relax the limitation period if you have a psychiatric injury which has prevented you from bringing a claim within the stipulated time.

We can help you

Your surgeon owes you a duty of care and should not cause you harm by acting negligently. If you have concerns about the quality of treatment you have received, it is preferable to seek legal advice at your earliest convenience so that a proper assessment of your claim can be made and if you have a valid claim, proceedings can be started in earnest.  

Also, if you have any questions about how you can bring a claim on behalf of a loved one, please reach out to us by filling out our online claim assessment form and we will contact you.

Can I Claim Compensation For Nerve Damage?

Yes, you can. If your nerve damage was caused by negligent treatment by your surgeon, or a medical professional, then you can make a medical negligence nerve damage compensation claim. 

Also, if the nerve damage was caused by carelessness of another which has inflicted pain on you, then you can also make a personal injury nerve damage claim.

When you are able to prove your claim, you will certainly be awarded compensation for the injury suffered, the severity and impact on day to day life, financial losses incurred, medical expenses, rehabilitation costs as well as house adjustments among others.

What Is The Average Settlement For Nerve Damage?

There are no fixed settlement figures for nerve damage. This is because each case has its own unique peculiarities. Taking a few nerve damage cases as case studies according to the publication of the Judicial College Guidelines, minor hand injuries where there is short term loss of function could get you a compensation of up to £4,500. Severe knee injury where there is permanent loss of function can win you a compensation between £29,400 and £47,000.

Also, you can receive between £139,210 and £151,070 for severe neck and severe back injury.

How Long Before Nerve Damage Is Permanent?

The time taken for a nerve to regenerate depends on how serious the injury was in the first place and the type of injury you suffered. Minor bruises to nerves are healed between 6-12weeks. A cut nerve will normally grow at 1mm per day after a 4-week period of rest.

While sensory nerves are more resilient than motor nerves and can recover sensation and function after several months or years, motor nerves have a limited period.

When a motor nerve does not heal within 18 to 24 months, the damage becomes permanent.