How To Make A Serious Injury Claim For Organ Damage

Within this guide, we will explain how you could make a serious injury claim for organ damage.

Organs, including the heart, lungs, liver and bowel, are crucial to the body’s everyday functions, and severe internal damage often has a considerable physical and psychological impact. Our guide will show you how to identify if an accident inflicting organ damage to you on the road, at work or in a public place is eligible for a compensation claim.

Additionally, we are going to outline evidence that could help your case, as well as provide compensation bracket guidelines to help you assess what your claim could be worth. 

Finally, you will learn how the professional care of our personal injury solicitors could be available to you under No Win No Fee terms.

Please speak to our advisors for further support and a free assessment of your possible serious injury compensation claim. Talk to an advisor at a time that suits you:

Model of a person's organs showing serious damage

Browse Our Guide 

  1. Do You Have A Claim For Organ Damage?
  2. Internal Organ Damage Claim Limitation Periods
  3. What Do You Need To Prove To Win Your Claim?
  4. Examples Of Payouts For Internal Organ Damage
  5. Start A No Win No Fee Claim For Organ Damage

Do You Have A Claim For Organ Damage?

You must first ensure that your potential claim for organ damage is eligible before seeking compensation. You are likely to have valid grounds if you can meet these conditions:

  • A party had a duty of care for your safety,
  • This duty of care was breached through actions or inactions. 
  • An incident resulted from the third party breaching their duty of care, causing you physical and/or mental harm.

Next, we will look at the duty of care held by road users, employers and occupiers of public spaces. You will have the opportunity to see what a breach of duty could entail.

Example Of A Road Traffic Accident

Road users have a duty of care to navigate roads in a manner that keeps themselves and others safe. To uphold this duty, follow the rules set out by the Highway Code and the Road Traffic Act 1988. Road users who drive recklessly, carelessly or lawlessly and breach their duty could cause a serious road traffic accident.

Example: Careless driving from a person leads to them hitting a pedestrian using a zebra crossing. The blunt force trauma of the collision results in the pedestrian suffering a perforated bowel. 

Example Of An Accident At Work

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states in Section 2 that employers have a duty of care towards employees. They must take reasonably practicable actions to keep their employees safe from harm. An avoidable accident at work could occur if an employer fails to meet their duty of care.

Example: An employer fails to maintain or check dangerous machinery and does not provide safety gear to workers. A machine explodes, and a large shard gives an employee a penetrating wound, leading to a severe liver laceration.

Example Of A Public Accident

Occupiers, the people or organisations who control public spaces, have a duty to keep visitors reasonably safe while on site. This duty of care is set out by the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. Visitors could be vulnerable to a harmful accident in a public place if an occupier fails to take care.

Example: A supermarket leaves heavy boxes stacked precariously on a roll cage trolley. The boxes fall and inflict a crush injury on a customer. They experience kidney damage and internal bleeding as a result.

If a third party’s breach of duty has led to your harm, you can talk to our advisors today for advice on making a serious injury claim for organ damage.

Internal Organ Damage Claim Limitation Periods 

As well as meeting the eligibility criteria outlined previously, your claim for organ damage should start within three years of the accident that caused you harm. This time frame is the limit set out by The Limitation Act 1980 and applies to the majority of personal injury claims.

However, there are a small number of exceptions. Those who lack the mental capacity to pursue a claim have their time limit indefinitely paused, though a court-appointed litigation friend can start a claim for them. If this does not happen and the injured person recovers, their three-year limit begins at the recovery date.

An injured under-18 cannot start a claim themselves, so their time limit would be from the day of their 18th birthday to their 21st. Again, a litigation friend can claim on their behalf during the pause period, which is any time up until the injured person turns 18.

You can get additional advice about time limits and how long you have to begin a claim by contacting our advisors today.

What Do You Need To Prove To Win Your Claim?

The outcome of your claim could rest on the evidence showing a third party’s breach of duty of care and how you suffered as a consequence. Among the forms of proof that could aid your case are:

  • Medical evidence, such as scans showing the extent of organ damage.
  • An official record like a workplace accident book entry.
  • CCTV or dashcam footage of the accident and events preceding it.
  • Photographs of the immediate accident scene.
  • Witness contact details.

Our serious injury claim solicitors could help you claim for organ damage. Please call our advisors or get in touch online to see what our solicitors can do for you.

Examples Of Payouts For Internal Organ Damage

A successful claim for organ damage could result in a settlement made of up to two heads of claim. They are:

  • Special damages. By presenting evidence like payslips or receipts, you can seek compensation for financial losses caused by injuries, including a loss of earnings or prescription costs. Special damages cannot be the sole form of compensation awarded in a settlement.
  • General damages. This head of claim aims to compensate you for the physical harm and psychological injuries which develop due to your organ damage.

Legal professionals can use the medical evidence you submit to assign a value to your injuries. They may also use the Judicial College Guidelines, a document from which we have taken figures to put together the below table of serious injury compensation brackets.

It is important to remember that this table is only a guide and may not reflect the amount awarded in a personal injury settlement.

Please speak with our advisors if you would like to know more about possible payouts from a claim for organ damage.

Compensation table

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INTERNAL ORGAN INJURY COMPENSATION NOTES
Serious Multiple Organ Injuries Up to £1,000,000+ Serious Injuries to multiple organs plus special damages which compensate for financial losses including loss of earnings.
Kidney (a) £169,400 to £210,400 Both kidneys either experience serious, permanent damage, or are lost entirely.
Bladder (a) £184,200 at most Cases of double incontinence, similar to the most severe bowel injuries.
Bladder (b) £140,660 at most The bladder completely fails to function and control is lost.
Bowels (a) Up to £184,200 The injured person suffers a loss of bowel and urinary function alongside other medical issues.
Bowels (b) Up to £150,110 Injuries precipitate a complete loss of natural bowel function.
Chest Injuries (a) £100,670 to £150,110 Significant heart damage is a possible effect of an injury in this bracket, as is a removed lung.
Chest Injuries (b) £65,740 to £100,670 Permanent damage is sustained to the lung(s) and/or the heart, as well as the chest.
Loss Of Earnings Up to £100,000 and above You could claim compensation for lost earnings after missing work due to injuries.

Start A No Win No Fee Claim For Organ Damage

Our solicitors are experienced in presenting personal injury claims and could help you start yours in a timely fashion while you recover. As long as you have valid grounds to seek compensation, a solicitor’s services could be yours under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA.)

A CFA is a type of No Win No Fee contract where you would not pay for your solicitor’s services:

  • Upfront;
  • During the case;
  • At any stage in a losing claim.

A winning claim means your solicitor collects a success fee. The percentage of your compensation they take would be pre-agreed to ensure you are satisfied with the agreement. Furthermore, the percentage a solicitor can take is capped by The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013.

Get In Contact With Our Team

Our dedicated advisors are on hand to answer any questions about making a claim for organ damage, and more besides. You can get a free assessment to see if you have a valid claim that could be forwarded to one of our solicitors.

There are no obligations, and contacting us is free, so please do not hesitate to:

Serious Injury Claim Resources

Here are some more guides you could find useful:

For some additional resources:

Thank you for reading our guide on making a serious injury claim for organ damage. Please reach out to our advisors if there is anything you would like to discuss.