The Myths About Claiming Compensation

There are many myths around how to make a compensation claim and how to go about it, and therefore so many people are afraid to even consider making a claim when they should as they are not only suffering from their injuries caused by the accident but also the loss of earnings and medical costs they are having to pay.

I will consider the myths in which put people off in making a compensation claim these are as follows:

Compensation Claims are Complex and Take a Long Time – if there is no issues with who is liable then the case will take around 8-12 months which isn’t a long time. If the liability is disputed the case will take longer as well as serious injury cases. At the start of the claim you will need to fill out quite a lot of paperwork but once that’s done your solicitor will take care of other things and try and make the claim successful with little hassle and delay.

You have to go to Court to Claim Compensation – most compensations claims are actually settled out of court and long before a court case is necessary. Everyone knows it’s cheaper to settle out of court and it also saves time for everyone. Only around 4% of compensation claims reach court for settlement.

Compensation Claims take Years to Settle – most compensation claims take around 8 to 12 months and therefore under a year. If there are problems within the case around liability then the case may take a couple of years.

The Law Protects Big Companies – in the UK the laws that are in place protect the public more than the companies. The UK is one of the most compassionate and considerate in the world. Maintenance of roads, vehicles and work environments are all closely watched under Health & Safety Regulations.

All of the Solicitors are Out to Get What They Want with Hidden Charges – solicitors easily get a bad name with bad press surrounding them from radio to papers to news channels. But solicitors are one of the best professionals which are regulated in the UK. There are always bad press saying that solicitors hide charges especially with the basis of No Win No Fee. In 2000 the legislation of No Win No Fee came into play which solicitors will work on your case for free in England and Wales.

Making a Claim Against your Employer will get you Sacked – there are many accidents each year that happen at work but many don’t claim as they believe they will be sacked if they do. An employer cannot sack you on the grounds that you are claiming against them; if they do you should claim for unfair dismissal. The law protects workers who have been with the employer for over 12 months.

You Cannot Obtain Medical Treatment whilst Claiming Compensation – this is just silly, if you have injuries they need to be looked at and cared for so they heal up as quickly as possible. The other party’s insurers may require to see you through your recovery process so they themselves can see the injuries you have. The quicker you receive treatment the quicker you are likely to respond and recover from your injuries.

I hope this had put your mind at rest and made you think clearly about claiming compensation if you have suffered injuries mentally or physically from an accident that wasn’t your fault. Whatever the injuries may be you have a legal and civil right to claim compensation.

Article Tags: No Win No Fee, Accident Claims, Medical Treatment, Claiming Compensation, Myths Of Compensation Claims, Medical Treatmentclaiming Compensation

About the Author:
Jene Pedder is the Webmaster of Accident Consult who specialise in Making a Compensation Claim.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/law-articles/the-myths-about-claiming-compensation-295680.html

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On a path to recovery

The girl who came within inches of losing her life now lives 10 feet off the ground.

Kristin Seaton, a sophomore outside hitter on Arkansas’ volleyball team, was thrown from an all-terrain vehicle July 7, 2006, a day that began as ordinarily as any other in the life of a 19-year-old college student. While coaches no doubt cringe at the thought of their athletes climbing onto such machines, Seaton didn’t think twice about hopping into a friend’s truck and going for a few hours’ worth of four-wheeling fun.

The destination that day was a series of paths and trails near Uniontown, a community tucked 20 miles north of Fort Smith near the Arkansas-Oklahoma border. Though her parents had refused previous requests for a fourwheeler of her own, Seaton had ridden with friends since she was in high school and considered herself a safe and capable driver.

But nothing had prepared Seaton for what happened on that remote stretch of gravel road.

“It happened so quick,” Seaton said. “It was just a sharp turn and I flew off, and the next thing I know it flipped on top of me.”

Seaton had been propelled over the handlebars when the four-wheeler balked at the sharp, sudden turn. By the time she landed and opened her eyes, Seaton could see the machine tumbling toward her.

The front of the four-wheeler landed on Seaton’s right hip, fracturing her pelvis in five places. An intense blast of pain was followed by the sight of the rear of the vehicle falling fast toward Seaton’s head.

In a move that she is convinced saved her life, Seaton managed to turn her head slightly. As she did, she heard and felt the fourwheeler whiz past her ear before it slammed into her shoulder, breaking three ribs.

The first thing that popped into Seaton’s mind, besides the pain, was her volleyball career.

“I was laying there thinking my career could be over,” she said. “I couldn’t feel my right leg, and I couldn’t really move it. I was thinking that I might not just be able to play sports, I might not be able to walk.”

Seaton’s friend circled back and she initially tried to assure him she would be fine, that the injured leg was the only problem.

“All of a sudden I started coughing blood up and I was, like, ‘OK, I’m not that fine,’” Seaton said.

Pangs of panic pulsed between the two when they realized neither of their cell phones were functioning in the wildernesslike surroundings. Seaton’s friend quickly decided to leave Seaton and return to his truck.

For what she guesses was 10 minutes, Seaton lay on the ground and waited for him to return. Once he got back, he loaded Seaton into the single-cab pickup truck and made a beeline for Fort Smith.

The trip took approximately half an hour, even at speeds approaching 90 miles per hour, and was an excruciating experience for Seaton. Not only did the pain from her injuries intensify when the truck bounced or shifted because of bumps and changes of direction, but Seaton also could feel the blood rising and subsiding in her throat.

Racing down the highway with her waders-clad feet hanging out of the open window, she tried to fight back thoughts about the possibility that her volleyball career had come to a crashing end. She thought of all the work she’d put in since the conclusion of her freshman season and how the chances for a breakout season were as broken as her bones.

“I was good to go, good to play,” Seaton said. “Everything was perfect.”

Seaton came to Arkansas from Fort Smith Northside in 2005, just the second homegrown player to garner a scholarship offer from Coach Chris Poole. A top-50 recruit nationally, Seaton was eased into the Lady Razorbacks’ rotation as a freshman, playing mostly a reserve role behind established starters.

Still, Seaton showed enough promise that Poole begin to think of her as a cornerstone for the future. He altered his recruiting strategy and received a reward of sorts when Seaton began to blossom during off-season workouts.

Loaded with natural physical talent, Seaton touched as high as 10-3 during vertical-jump testing. She added strength and attacked conditioning work with a vengeance, molding herself into the best physical shape of her life. Though Seaton posted a modest 49 kills as a freshman, she was determined to make more of an impact in 2006. Instead, she found herself suffering through an hour’s worth of X-rays and imaging scans as she lay immobilized in a hospital just six weeks before the start of the season.

STARTING OVER Only after getting the images they needed did nurses begin to administer intravenous pain medication. They also told Seaton they needed to notify her parents.

Fearing an “I told you so” reaction, Seaton begged nurses to let her place the call and explain what had happened. The nurses shot down that idea, and one of them left to make the call.

Dana Seaton works as a counselor at a junior high school in Fort Smith and has seen his share of all-terrain vehicle crash victims. Some of the stories don’t have happy endings, and that’s what ran through his mind when he and his wife, Carol, received the call from the hospital.

The nurse’s message was terrifying in its simplicity: “We think you need to come on up here.”

“Naturally, we think something pretty major has happened,” Dana Seaton recalled. “Our hearts kind of dropped, but we looked at each other and said we’d get through it. The most important thing is that she was still alive.”

When the Seatons saw their daughter and got a report on her injuries, including the fact one of the broken ribs had come perilously close to puncturing her aorta, the severity of her condition began to sink in. If the aorta had been hit, Seaton most likely would have bled to death before reaching the hospital.

“My initial thought — and I didn’t tell her this — was that I just hoped she would be able to walk,” Dana Seaton said.

Kristin Seaton was already trying to convince those around her — and possibly herself — that she would play volleyball again.

“I knew it would be a long, long recovery... but I knew I would come back and play,” she said.

After a week in intensive care and another week in a standard care room, others still had their doubts.

“Certainly we gave her a lot of encouragement, but we had to be realistic and we didn’t know if she’d ever play volleyball again,” Poole said. “We knew it was the kind of injury that could wipe her out.”

That scenario lingered as Seaton spent a month in a wheelchair, then missed the first week of the fall semester because she was learning how to walk again.

“It really felt like my first time walking,” Seaton said. “I had to learn basics and use a walker. It was horrible. I was 19 years old and having to learn to walk.” At times, progress wasn’t even measured in steps. Arkansas associate women’s athletic director and head trainer Julie Cain said simply being able to sit through a class was an achievement for Seaton. As late as October, Seaton was relegated to doing no more than leg raises, simply lifting the lower half of her leg without any weight or resistance attached. “I can’t stress enough how really, really, very basic those first exercises were,” Cain said. “Every day, for a while, was a new day.”

A SECOND CHANCE Finally, in January, Seaton’s recovery began to accelerate. By March, she was back in the weight room, doing conditioning work and going through select volleyball drills. It was during that time Cain joined Seaton in believing she could make it back onto a volleyball court.

“I still wasn’t sold on her vying for a starting position or anything like that,” Cain said with a smile.

Fast-forward to April, and Seaton was back on the court playing closely monitored minutes. She also was under strict orders from Cain to stay on her feet, not to hit the floor in an attempt to dig balls.

At the end of Arkansas’ spring exhibition season, the Lady Razorbacks went through an annual series of tests to measure gains in areas like the vertical leap. Seaton promptly touched 10-0 as coaches and teammates looked on in disbelief.

“That day let me know we had a chance with her,” Poole said.

Seaton has continued to progress, slowly regaining the power, strength and endurance she once displayed so effortlessly. Poole estimated Seaton is playing at perhaps 80 percent of her former level, but he is hopeful she’ll be full strength by the start of SEC play in mid-September.

“She’s producing at a Division I level, she’s just not as physical as she was two years ago,” Poole said. “She can make a great hit, but it may be five plays before you see another great hit.”

Seaton acknowledges her comeback isn’t complete, but she is determined to make the most of her remaining career. It seems the brush with death has been a source of strength and self-assessment.

“It just kind of makes you feel good to know you overcame something so big. I definitely feel like I’ve been given a second chance,” Seaton said. “I don’t know what for yet, but I definitely think God gave me a second chance and that I’m here for a reason.”

Source: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/200281/

Broken bone won't stop Grabham push for Safari win

Moto leader Ben Grabham will go into tomorrow's final stage of Australian Safari carrying a broken collarbone that he sustained early on Friday's leg between Kalgoorlie and York.

The 26-year-old Honda CRF 450X rider had an off on Ryans Find, the 33km second stage of the day, and broke his left 'wing', finishing equal sixth on that stage, but scarcely missing a beat for the remainder of the day.

Despite the unscheduled exit, the Bathurst rider went on to demonstrate that the injury should be no major impediment to his hopes of winning the moto crown in his Safari debut, taking out the remaining Jaurdi and Clarkson Flat stages to end the day nine minutes and 16 seconds clear of the field.

“About 4ks from the finish I tried to dodge a furry critter in the dust and collected a stump along the way," he said.

"It doesn’t really hurt, I expected it to hurt a lot more."

“It was popping around a bit, but it’s not going to stop me tomorrow. I’ve got another good collarbone."

Grabham’s GHR Honda team has its own medico on board, who has wrapped the shoulder tight under his red racing uniform.

“I will do anything I can," he said.

“I sure do have a chance (to win this year’s Safari)."

"I have a lot of minutes up. It's what I was hoping for.”

Nearest challenger Jacob Smith thinks the injury will slow the race leader down, but won't stop him pressing on for the title on the final day.

“It will slow him down for sure," Smith said.

"But I don’t think a broken bone will stop him making it to the finish line. I would ride it with a broken leg."

“We’ll see. Anything is possible on our last day.”

Source: http://www.mcnews.com.au/NewsArchives/2007/August/safari_day8.htm

Trip day trip for Wendy

TRIP day came to a painful conclusion for one Driffield tripper who took a tumble and dislocated her elbow.

Trip Day veteran Wendy Addy, 66, was enjoying the day out at the seaside until she tripped and sustained the painful injury which has left her with severe bruising and three stitches in her left thumb.

She had been visiting Bridlington with the Trip Day entourage last Wednesday, as she has done for the past 40 years, but ended up in hospital with a dislocated elbow.

She said: “I was walking with my family when the next moment I was down on the road.

“The pain was terrific and we had to wait for an age for an ambulance because it had to travel from Hornsea.

“I felt so faint and sick. I’ve never broken any other bone in my body. I’ve been telling people that I went on Trip Day and had a trip.”

Mrs Addy’s fall came just minutes after a bird made an unwelcome deposit on her back which many people would consider to be good luck.

She had been walking near Bridlington Spa with her husband, Philip, daughter, Denise, and three granddaughters when she said she tripped over the pavement where part of the kerb was missing.

The ambulance first took her to Bridlington Hospital but when they were unable to treat her she was transferred to Scarborough Hospital where she was put under a general anaesthetic while her arm was put back in place.

Her right arm has been put in a sling but she must return to hospital in around three weeks time to discover the full extent of her injuries - she may have also sustained a broken arm or a torn ligament.

Mrs Addy, who lives on Wansford Road, suffers from lymphoedema, a chronic swelling of the lymph nodes, in her right arm and because her left arm is strapped up she is unable to do anything for herself.

She was planning to bake a birthday cake for her granddaughter, Olivia, who will be three on September 3, but at the moment she struggles to wash and dress herself.

She said: “I can’t do anything. My family have to help me get dressed.

“We had a lovely time on Trip Day up until that happened but it hasn’t put me off. I’ll be returning next year with my youngest granddaughter.”

Mrs Addy wrote a letter of complaint to East Riding of Yorkshire Council about the pavement in Bridlington and has been informed the broken section of the kerb has been repaired.

A spokesperson from the ERYC said: “We have received a complaint from this lady.

“We are sorry to hear about her injuries and hope she is recovering well.

“Since she brought this to our attention we have carried out repairs to ensure the area is safe.”

Source: http://www.driffieldtoday.co.uk/news/Trip-day-trip-for-Wendy.3142622.jp

Broken leg sidelines MCC football standout Miller

Thursday, August 16, 2007 - Muskegon Catholic Central will launch its 2007 football season next week without its best player, senior Donnie Miller.

The standout running back/linebacker broke his right leg in a freak accident at Tuesday's practice and is expected to be sidelined at least six weeks.

MCC coach Mike Holmes said Miller was running the ball during a team scrimmage and ran into a blocker. Miller's cleats were planted as he twisted and fell to the ground in pain.

An ambulance transported Miller to a local hospital, where he was diagnosed with a broken tibia (the non weight-bearing bone in the leg).

Miller (6-1, 210) has a doctor's appointment today and should know his status for the rest of the season afterward.

For sure, he is expected to miss most of the regular season, including the opener Aug. 24 at Kehren Stadium against Mona Shores.

"It's a devastating thing for us," MCC coach Mike Holmes said. "But we have to keep playing. If you coach a long time, unfortunately, these things happen."

Last season, Miller rushed for more than 1,000 yards (9.1 yards per carry) and was a key two-way player as the Crusaders won the Division 7 state championship.

A college prospect with good speed and power, Miller has received attention from Ivy League schools and Division I schools in the Mid-American Conference.

Miller said there is no cartilage damage and the leg suffered a clean break. He's currently in a splint and will have a cast put on the leg.

"I'm trying to stay positive," Miller said. "It's not as bad as it could be. I'll just keep my head up and help keep my team together."

Holmes is busy making adjustments with Miller's absence. He's been through this before -- most notably when all-state running back candidate Jason Eichorst suffered a season-ending knee injury in a 1992 scrimmage.

"We're crossing our fingers and hoping he'll come back at some time," Holmes said. "If he has a chance to come back later and help us out that would be great. I know we don't have him for the near future."

On Monday, Miller received a hand-written letter from Harvard coach Tim Murphy. Miller, who has a 3.8 GPA with a 27 on the ACT, hopes his injury won't scare away schools in the recruiting process.

"It will be a tough few weeks," Miller said. "People in the Catholic community have been very supportive. They're all helping to keep my spirits up. That helps, I don't have to go through it alone."

Source: http://www.mlive.com/preps/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1187273710121100.xml&coll=8

Do You Have A Personal Injury Case?

Florida Personal Injury Lawyers are asked the same question. Does y case sound like a good case for a personal injury lawyer? As most would say yes... let us evaluate so you can find out through your own decisions.

WHAT IS A PERSONAL INJURY?

Any harm caused to a person, such as a broken bone, a cut or a bruise is described as a personal injury. Any type of bodily harm or injury as a result of an attack, negligence or accident can come under the category of a personal injury .A lawsuit to recover damages from whoever is responsible can be filled by you . Personal Injuries can also be any injury resulting from, slander, libel or malicious prosecution, even false arrest; any bodily injury, sickness, disease or death sustained by any person and caused by an incident for which the state or anyone else may be held legally responsible. An accident takes place every five seconds in the United States. In most situations, accidents can be the result of carelessness or negligence due to the person who caused the accident.

In order to obtain compensation for your pain and suffering, your Florida personal injury lawyer must prove that you have been injured as the result of the negligence of another party. Moreover, your attorney must be able to show that as a result of the accident, you have suffered or incurred lost wages, medical bills, substantial pain and suffering. Common causes of personal injury include:

Automobile Accidents
Bus Accidents
Animal Bites
Wrongful Death
Slip and Fall Injury
Workplace Injuries
Catastrophic Injuries
Aviation Accidents
Trucking Accidents
Motorcycle Accidents
Boat Accidents
Head & Brain Injury
Medical Malpractice
Defective Products

It is always wise to appoint a personal injury lawyer who is a specialist in these cases. These experienced personal injury lawyers with years of experience and dexterity help the client, providing full legal support in claiming compensations and other legal disputes.

Florida is a state which is gifted with some of the best Florida personal injury lawyer and attorneys. The reputed personal injury lawyers handle most cases on a contingency fee agreement. This means that while claiming injury compensations and providing other legal services, these lawyers never charge anything unless they win your case.

Article Tags: Florida Lawyers, Personal Injury, Personal Injury Lawyer, Florida Personal Injury Lawyers, Attorneys

Author: Markus Skupeika

About the Author:
Discover is you need a Florida Personal Injury Lawyer? Need advice from lawyers with out needing to go through the free consultation. View our Florida Accident Lawyers network.

Source: Free Online Articles from www.ArticlesBase.com