How Much Compensation Can I Claim For An Abdominal Injury?
By Cat Way. Last Updated 11th September 2023. Welcome to our guide to abdominal injury claims. If you have suffered an abdominal injury, such as damage to an internal organ or the soft tissue of the abdomen, you may be entitled to claim compensation for your suffering.
abdominal injury claims
These claims can arise from a variety of different causes and injury types. The most common cause of abdominal injuries is blunt force trauma. However, organs can be damaged as a result of a surgical error. Courts have long recognised the impact on a victim’s life the effects of damage to one or more internal organs can have. Any (potentially lengthy) recovery period will be factored into the amount of compensation awarded.
For a free consultation about your case with one of our specialist advisors, you can get in touch by:
- Calling 0800 073 8804 today
- Completing a contact form
- Using our chat feature
Select a Section
- How to Make An Abdominal Injury Claim
- Common Types of Abdominal Injury
- How Do I Prove An Abdominal Injury Claim?
- How Much Compensation Could I Receive For An Abdominal Injury?
- No Win No Fee Abdominal Injury Claims
- Useful Links
How To Make An Abdominal Injury Claim
An abdominal injury could result in serious pain and severe consequences. However, in order to form the basis of a valid claim for personal injury compensation, you must be able to establish negligence. Negligence is when:
- A relevant third party owed you a duty of care.
- This party breached their duty of care.
- Because of this, you suffer an injury.
A duty of care is a legal responsibility towards your health or well-being in a certain setting. For example, employers owe their employees a duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, meaning that they must take all reasonably practicable steps to keep their employees safe. If you slip on a loose cable at work and suffer from abdominal pain after a fall on your back, this could be an example of employer negligence.
If you can prove that you have suffered an injury to your abdomen as a result of another party failing to fulfil their duty of care, then you may be able to make a claim for compensation.
Time Limits For Abdominal Injury Claims
All personal injury claims, which include abdominal injury claims, have time limits within which they can be made. In general, this time limit is up to 3 years after either the date of the accident or the date that you realised you experience some form of damage as a result of it (date of knowledge). This time limit is stated in the Limitation Act 1980.
In some situations, exceptions can apply to this 3-year time limit. For example, if a claimant lacks the mental ability required in order to make a claim, the time limit is frozen until they are able to do so. In the meantime, however, they could always appoint a litigation friend to make their claim on behalf of them. At this point, the usual time limit would begin to come into effect, leaving the litigation friend with the 3-year limitation period to make legal proceedings.
To learn whether you could make a claim within the specified time limit for your case, please get in touch today for a free consultation. In the meantime, please read on to begin our abdominal injury claims guide.
Common Types Of Abdominal Injury
Many diseases or injuries which affect the abdomen (and associated internal organs) can be very serious. These can affect your quality of life and an abdominal injury during pregnancy can be dangerous, even fatal, to both mother and baby. The abdomen includes most of the major organs, such as the bladder, kidneys and liver. For women, this also includes the reproductive system.
Abdominal injuries can be caused by injury, illness, employer negligence and even surgical error. Common types of abdominal injury include the following;
- Food poisoning: This is the most common type of abdominal injury. There are thousands of cases of food poisoning across the UK every year. Often food poisoning is caused by bacteria in food that has been stored or cooked improperly, or when restaurant staff have poor hygiene.
- Kidney damage: The kidney removes toxins from your body. If they experience trauma, are affected by a disease or are exposed to certain chemical pollutants their function can be impaired.
- Stab wounds: These can be caused by objects piercing or stabbing the abdomen, severely injuring the internal organs. Such injuries can be life-threatening and life-changing. Victims can have to change their diet and lifestyle after this.
How Do I Prove An Abdominal Injury Claim?
There are a number of pieces of evidence that you can gather to help support your claim. The more you gather, the better. Examples include:
- CCTV footage – you have the right to request the footage if you appear it. Video evidence
could highlight whether someone acted negligently by failing to take reasonable steps to keep you safe from harm.
- Photographs – capturing the visual evidence of your injuries or the cause of your injuries can also be useful.
- Witness contact details – if there are others who witnessed your injury, or were injured in a similar way, then they could help corroborate your story.
- Independent medical assessment – this would need to be carried out as part of making your claim. The assessment can help in valuing your claim. Additionally, the medical expert carrying out the assessment will provide an in-depth report on your injuries, including how they were caused.
Reach out to us today if you have any questions about the evidence required for abdomen/stomach injury claims.
How Much Compensation Could I Receive For An Abdominal Injury?
If your personal injury claim succeeds, you could receive up to two heads of claim. The first head, general damages, is awarded to all successful claimants and addresses your injuries and the effect they have on your life.
Solicitors and other legal professionals may use the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help them value of this head of claim. This is because the JCG offers guideline compensation brackets for different injuries of varying severities. We’ve included some of the amounts listed in the 16th edition of the JCG in the table below.
| Injury | Description | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Female reproductive system | (a) Infertility by disease or injury with scarring, pain and severe depression | £114,900 to £170,280 |
| Illness | Food poisoning – Serious, but short lived | £9,540 to £19,200 |
| Bowels | Cases that result in double incontentience | Up to £184,200 |
| Bowels | Injuries that penetrate and leave some last damage, but they eventually heal | £12,590 to £24,480 |
| Bladder | Control seriously impaired with some incontinence and pain | £63,980 to £79,930 |
| Digestive System | Stab wounds/lacerations | £6,610 to £12,590 |
| Spleen | Complete loss with an ongoing risk of internal infection | £20,800 to £26,290 |
| Hernia | With lasting pain and/or your physical activities being limited | £14,900 to £24,170 |
You could also be entitled to special damages. This head of claim compensates you for the financial losses caused by your injuries. For example, a serious abdominal injury may result in mobility issues, in which case you could potentially claim back the cost of a mobility aid.
Special damages could also compensate you for the cost of:
- Lost earnings.
- Essential travel.
- Prescriptions.
- Domestic help.
- Over-the-counter medications.
- Childcare.
To recoup these expenses, you must be able to provide proof of your losses. To find out how one of our solicitors could help you prove your claim, contact our team of advisors today.
No Win No Fee Abdominal Injury Claims
If you’ve suffered an abdominal injury, one of our solicitors could help you claim personal injury compensation. There are many benefits that can come with working with a solicitor. For example, they can help you gather evidence to help support your claim. Our solicitors also take on claims from around the country, which means you aren’t limited to working with a local professional and can instruct a solicitor with experience handling claims similar to your own instead.
Our solicitors also work on a No Win No Fee basis. This means that, with the help of a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) which is a type of No Win No Fee contract they could offer, you can access their services without paying an upfront fee. Similarly, you won’t be expected to pay ongoing fees for their work, nor will you be expected to pay for their work if your claim fails.
If your claim is successful, you’ll pay a success fee. The success fee is deducted directly from your compensation and is taken as a small percentage. However, this percentage is limited by a legal cap. This helps to ensure that you receive the majority share of your compensation.
To find out if one of our solicitors could help you claim abdominal injury compensation, contact our team of advisors today.
Start Your Claim
Following an abdominal injury or illness which was not your fault, you could be entitled to compensation. At Legal Expert, we can provide all the expert advice and help that you need.
You can contact Legal Expert by:
- Calling us on 0800 073 8804 today
- Completing a contact form
- Using our chat feature
Useful Links
-
- Find out how to make a successful abdominal injury compensation claim following an accident at work with Legal Expert.
- Find out how much compensation you could potentially receive for a Permanent Scar Injury and get more help surrounding the personal injury claims process with our guide.
- Read our Cruise Ship Accident Claims guide to learn more about claiming for a personal injury sustained on a cruise ship.
- Learn more about Military And Armed Forces Injury Claims and find out how a No Win No Fee solicitor could help with our guide.
- Find out if you could get Sick Pay After An Accident At Work and learn more about making a claim.
- Learn more about Holiday Abroad Accident Claims with our helpful guide.
Thanks for reading our abdominal injury claims guide.
