What is personal injury?

A personal injury is a physical or psychological illness or injury which has occurred as a result of an accident or negligence. The result of this is pain and debilitation plus the inconvenience this causes.

A personal injury can have a dramatic impact upon your life. It can range from a mild injury through to a long term disability which can force you to give up work.

The effects of a personal injury

A personal injury impacts upon your life in many ways, one of these being a loss of earnings. If your injury is serious enough that you have to take time off work (if employed) or lose work/customers (if self-employed) then this will impact upon your finances. You can easily go from being relatively well off and without any financial worries to a situation in which you are struggling to manage.

Think about it for a moment: if one of you is unable to work due to a personal injury then this will result in a drop in your income. This drop in earnings will affect you and your family’s quality of life.

Unfortunately, any drop in income is not matched by a drop in your outgoings. Bills still have to be paid, mortgage or rent payments made, food bought etc and these still stay the same even if your income has been reduced.

Plus there is an additional worry in having to pay the cost of prescription charges, travel to hospital (and car parking) etc. If your injury has left you with a disability then you may require specialist care –possibly on a 24 hour basis which is time consuming, expensive and psychologically distressing.

The effect of a personal injury can never be underestimated.

This issue is discussed in further detail in our financial problems from personal injury section.

Personal injury statistics

Did you know that more than three million people are injured each year? These injuries occur as a result of accidents in the home, in public spaces or on the roads.

(Source: Forum Law Solicitors)

So, there are more people affected by personal injury than you realise.

Personal injury accident or negligence

The issue for many people is whether their personal injury has occurred as a random act. Is this something which has happened purely by chance which could not have been prevented? Or, have they become injured as a result of someone else’s actions or what might be termed a ‘lack of duty of care’.

So if you have suffered a personal injury then this is what you need to be aware of when considering making a claim for compensation. If your injury was sustained as a result of someone else’s fault and there is evidence to support this then you have a greater chance of winning your claim.

What you need to do is to determine what type of personal injury you have especially if you are thinking of claiming for compensation. If you are then you will find that claims assessors and law firms have categorised the most common personal injuries in order to make it easier for their clients. This is vital if you are making a compensation claim as some injuries attract a greater payout than others.

For more information visit our types of personal injury section.