Arm Injury Claim

Arm Injury Claim: UK lawyer sets out the types of arm injury you can suffer and how much compensation you can claim for each

Arm injury claim: UK solicitor describes the two main types of compensation that can form part of your arm injury claim, the different injuries you can suffer to your forearm and upper arm from a broken arm to an amputation with examples of compensation settlement amounts.

What is an arm injury claim?

Your arm is the limb which extends from your shoulder to your wrist and is made up of the upper arm (extending from your shoulder to your elbow) and the forearm or lower arm (extending from your elbow to your wrist).

Arm injury claim

When doctors refer to your arm - they will normally be referring to your upper arm, but the common usage of the word in everyday society includes the upper arm and the forearm.

The upper arm includes one major bone known as the humerus and various muscles, ligaments and tendons. Two of the major muscles are the biceps (on the inside of your arm) and the triceps (on the outside of your arm).

The forearm has two major bones known as the ulna and radius and consists of various muscles, ligaments and tendons.

I have written separate pages describing compensation amounts for an elbow injury and a wrist injury

If you suffer an injury to your arm as a result of an accident or due to some form of medical negligence - whether it be a broken or fractured bone, torn ligament or tendon or soft tissue muscle damage - you might be entitled to make an "arm injury claim" for compensation against the person considered as a matter of law to be responsible for your injury.

You should consult with a solicitor as to whether someone is "legally responsible" for your injury - the law in the UK is designed to protect innocent accident victims in many ways - most of which you probably not be aware of.

For example, if you buy a new cycle bike and that bike malfunctions causing an injury to your arm - the manufacturer of the bike will be legally liable for a defective product. You only need to show that the bike was faulty and the manufacturer will be "strictly liable" for injuries caused - in other words you do not have to show how the manufacturer was at fault or how the defect occurred - only that the defect did occur and the manufacturer will be legally liable to pay your arm injury claim for compensation.

Arm Injury Claim How Much? Broken Bones Fractures Compensation claims

How does your UK solicitor decide how much compensation an arm injury claim is worth?

There are two main types of compensation which will form part of your arm injury claim:

1. Compensation for pain and suffering for your arm injury

Compensation for pain and suffering describes what the UK courts have decided over many years certain types of injury are worth.

Your lawyer will instruct a medical expert - most likely a consultant orthopaedic surgeon - to complete a medical report describing your injuries and giving a prediction into the future as to how long it will take for your symptoms of pain to resolves and whether there will be any future complications.

Your solicitor will use the description given in the medical report to find cases and court decisions made in the past for similar injuries and so determine the amount of compensation you should recover for pain and suffering.

2. Compensation for your financial losses and expenses

The financial losses and expenses you are entitled to claim in compensation will depend entirely on your circumstances.

For example, 

you might have to have time off work to recover from a broken arm and so you can claim lost income; you might have medical expenses such as pain killers (keep your receipts and you can claim this money back); you might travel to the hospital and your GP for treatment (keep your receipts and however you travel you will be able to claim - even if it is a mileage rate should you travel in a friend's car); you could claim the expense of nursing help if you need a nurse to look after you your home (you could claim a rate for the equivalent of nursing assistance if a friend or family member helps you in the home - such as help with bathing and cooking whilst your arm is in a cast), etc.

Examples of compensation amounts for your arm injury claim

Examples of different types of arm injury claim and the amount of compensation you can claim for each in 2010, include:

1. Minor arm injury claim

If you suffer soft tissue injuries (muscles damage) and a simple fracture or broken bone in the forearm or upper arm - either the ulna, radius or humerus - and such fracture heals quickly with no ongoing problems: up to £4,200

2. Fractured forearm or upper arm with ongoing symptoms

If it takes some time for your broken arm to heal and you have some ongoing pain, but only to a small degree, you can expect your arm injury claim to be worth between: £4,200 - £12,3000

3. Arm injury with ongoing disability

If your arm injury heals, but leaves some significant symptoms, but these symptoms still allow your arm to function: £12,300 - £25,000

4. Serious arm injury claims

The most serious arm injuries, perhaps including multiple broken bones which do not heal correctly and leave significant disability and ongoing pain, but fall short of the need for amputation: £25,000 - £84,000

5. Amputation of your arm

In the most extreme cases your arm might have to be amputated. Amputation of the arm can take several different forms: either a below elbow amputation, an above elbow amputation or an amputation of the arm at the shoulder.

The more of your arm that is removed in the amputation the more compensation your arm injury claim is worth. The most compensation you can expect will be for both your arms being amputated at the shoulder.

The range of compensation you can expect for an arm injury amputation claim is :£62,000 - £192,000.

Summary of arm injury claim compensation amounts

On this page you have seen how much UK compensation your solicitor will attempt to recover in an arm injury claim settlement for various different injuries from the minor to the most severe amputations.

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Compensation Claim Advice for Accidents and Injuries at work places

Making a Claim for an Accident in a Public Place

Most importantly, if you are considering making a personal injury claim for an accident in a public place, you should seek specialist legal advice from a reputable, experienced, personal injury lawyer.

In every case, medical evidence will be required. Detailed expert evidence is often also required in disease cases to show that the condition suffered by a claimant was caused by exposure to a particular substance.

In any personal injury claim it is necessary to show that the person you are making a claim against owed you a duty of care, that they breached that duty of care (were negligent), and that the injury you sustained was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of that negligence. 

For example, if you suffered a fall on a pavement caused by a hole or raised paving stone that should have been noticed and repaired, it is possible that the local authority could be found at fault.  Similarly, if you slipped due to a spillage on the floor of a supermarket that should have been cleaned away, you may be able to hold them responsible.  If however your accident was purely that, and no-one was to blame, it would not be possible to claim compensation.

Your lawyer can collate all of the evidence and advise on the best way to pursue a public liability claim on your behalf.  It always assists the lawyers in proving the case to have a photograph taken at the time of the accident, or shortly afterwards, to show the hazard which caused the injury.

Compensation

If your claim is successful, and The Legal Line's solicitors will work hard to ensure that this is the case, you will be entitled to two elements of a compensation award.

The first is for the pain and suffering you may have gone through and what is known as loss of amenity. This is called general damages and can include an award for your inability to do things after the accident that you used to be able to do before (eg wash your car, look after your garden, walk the dog etc). The award for loss of amenity can be for a short period after an accident or for ever if that is what the medical evidence supports.

The second element of a compensation award is for your losses and expenses and is known as special damages. It is important to keep receipts for any expenditure you have related to the accident, so that these can be reclaimed. The aim is to put you back in a position financially as if the accident had never occurred.

Compensation Claim Advice for Accidents and Injuries in Public Places