Compensation & Insurance: Personal Injury - Guides
Personal Injury
10. Personal Injuries
Firm / Chambers:
Last updated: 14 Aug 2015
- Throughout the claims process you are required to manage your own injuries. This includes seeking treatment and rehabilitation to assist your recovery.
- Personal injury claims can be extremely lengthy. It can be several years before the claim is resolved and compensation is awarded. Your treatment and rehabilitation needs cannot wait this long.
- You are under an obligation to show the respondent that you are doing all that you can to rehabilitate yourself. If you fail to take reasonable steps to rehabilitate yourself and obtain treatment it may affect your award of damages.
- Some claimants choose to keep a diary of how they feel and how their life is affected by their injury. This can be useful when it comes time to resolve your claim.
- Generally speaking a claim cannot be finalised until your injury has stabilised. This is because it is too difficult to evaluate the extent or impact of your injury until it has stopped progressing or changing. Depending on the kind of injury you have sustained and how severe it is this could take years.
- Once your doctor believes your injury has stabilised you can obtain a specialist medical report that contains the opinion of a specialist as to the nature, extent and impact of your injury.
- In particular the expert report should:
- discuss the nature and extent of your injury;
- describe any lasting impairment or disability that you have been left with as a result of the injury;
- comment on the impact on your daily life; and
- evaluate your capacity to work now and in the future.
- Not all doctors write these reports. You will need to find a medical specialist that writes medico legal reports. This person should also be a specialist in the medical field relating to your injury. For example if you sustained a psychiatric injury you need a report from a psychiatrist. Back injuries require an orthopaedic surgeon and possibly a neurosurgeon if you have associated nerve injury.
View more Information on Compensation & Insurance