Internal organ injury claims are legal actions taken by persons who have suffered some form of damage to one or more of their internal organs following an accident. Often these are extremely serious injuries with long lasting impacts and functional impairments, preventing you from undertaking work, hobbies and domestic duties. Such damage can result in a range of circumstances, including accidents in the workplace, road traffic collisions and accidents in public areas. Organ damage can also result from substandard healthcare, which we briefly touch on below.
If your claim is successful, you will be awarded compensation for the organ injury and the impact it has on your life as well as associated financial losses, including your lost wages and any healthcare you paid out of pocket for. Having the support of an expert legal team can help ensure that you receive all of the damages you deserve.
By choosing to work with Accident Claims, you’ll benefit from the knowledge and skills of expert solicitors, who fully understand just how complex this type of claim can be. Whether it’s ensuring you receive all necessary medical care, or helping you to collect the right evidence so you can focus on your recovery, an Accident Claims solicitor will handle your claim with the utmost professionalism.
4.8Browse This Guide
- What Are Internal Organ Injury Claims?
- Can I Claim Compensation For An Organ Injury?
- Can I Make A Claim For A Loved One’s Internal Organ Injury?
- Fatal Internal Organ Injury Compensation Claims
- What Accidents Could Result In Organs Becoming Injured?
- Can I Claim For Internal Organ Medical Negligence?
- Criminal Violence Or Assault Internal Organ Injury Claims
- Common Internal Organ Injury Examples
- What Symptoms Could Indicate An Internal Organ Injury?
- What Impacts Can An Organ Injury Have On Someone’s Quality Of Life?
- How Much Organ Injury Compensation Can I Claim?
- What Will I Need To Bring A Claim For Injured Organs?
- Claim Compensation For Organ Injuries With Accident Claims
- Learn More
What Are Internal Organ Injury Claims?
Internal organ injury claims are any claim for personal injury compensation made after sustaining damage to, or experiencing the functional impairment of, the internal organs. Accidents that result in organ damage often involve crush injuries, where persons are trapped against walls or underneath heavy objects, and incidents involving vehicles. These injuries can vary widely in their severity. Some people will experience minor functional impairment for short periods before making a full recovery, but in more serious cases, the damage can be permanent and severely life-limiting.
You can get a free eligibility check as well as further information regarding the claims process by speaking to our advisors today.
Can I Claim Compensation For An Organ Injury?
You can seek compensation for an organ injury if you can show that a third party failed to keep you safe when they should have done, resulting in you suffering organ damage. The detailed eligibility requirements for internal organ injury claims have been set out here.
- You were Owed a Duty of Care by A Third Party. Other drivers, your employer, businesses and local authorities can all owe duties of care to others. What we mean by a duty of care is a legal responsibility to safeguard the wellbeing of other persons. We’ll get to some specific examples in a later section.
- This Duty was Breached in Some Way. The responsible party can fail to meet their legal obligations in multiple ways. This could be ignoring safety requirements, not fixing reported hazards quickly enough or failing to provide staff with suitable training to avoid such incidents.
- The Breach Resulted in an Accident Where You Suffered Internal Organ Damage. In order to make a claim, these failings need to result in an accident where you suffered harm to one or more organs. Often injuries of this nature are very serious, with long term consequences and impairments. Any injury you do seek compensation for will need medical recognition.
You can get a free eligibility check today by speaking to one of our friendly advisors. Get in touch via the details provided below.
Can I Make A Claim For A Loved One’s Internal Organ Injury?
Yes, you can make a claim for a loved one’s internal organ injury if they are otherwise unable to make a claim themselves. There are two scenarios where this could occur.
- Children: persons who are under 18 at the time of their accident cannot make their own claim.
- Mental capacity: someone who does not possess the mental capacity to claim, whether due to the accident or any prior conditions, also cannot claim for themselves.
In both scenarios, you would need to be appointed as a litigation friend in order to claim on their behalf. Litigation friends are given decision-making power over a claim and must adhere to strict requirements and act within the injured person’s best interest. Often, it is the parent or guardian of the injured person who will fulfil this role, but any adult who meets the suitability criteria can be a litigation friend. You can inquire further about claiming on behalf of another today by calling the number below.
Fatal Internal Organ Injury Compensation Claims
If the injured person dies, whether at the scene or later in hospital due to their injuries, fatal accident compensation could be sought by their estate, as well as certain dependents. Please get in touch with one of our advisors to learn more about this type of claim.
What Accidents Could Result In Organs Becoming Injured?
Various accidents including those at work, on the road and in public spaces, could result in organs being injured. Examples of such accidents are given under the headings below.
Workplace Organ Injury
Employers are required to take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of their employees. While what amounts to reasonable precautions will vary between workplaces, some general measures include ensuring staff have the necessary training, providing protective gear and clothing where applicable and routinely inspecting all work equipment for faults and completing any required repairs.
An example of when an accident at work claim could be made following damage to internal organs would be:
You were using a forklift truck to move pallets of goods from storage to one of the shipping areas. Due to insufficient training, you inadvertently overloaded the lifting arm. While turning a corner, the truck toppled and you became trapped underneath, suffering a serious crush injury to your chest.
Internal Organ Injuries In Public Places
There is a legal requirement on those in control of public places, the occupiers, to take steps to ensure the reasonable safety of all visitors to the areas under their control. Often, this involves many of the same measures as above, such as ensuring staff are suitably trained, maintaining the premises, and promptly resolving any reported issues.
Public liability claims could be made for damage to the internal organs following scenarios such as:
While heading up a staircase in a council building, the bannister collapsed and you fell a considerable distance to the ground. In addition to sustaining multiple fractures to your arms and legs, your ribs were also broken, puncturing one of your lungs.
Road Accident Organ Injuries
Road users, from pedestrians to lorry drivers are required by law to do whatever they can to avoid causing one another harm. While those driving the largest vehicles have the greatest capacity to cause harm and must act accordingly, car drivers, cyclists and pedestrians must also use the roads in a safe manner.
Road traffic accident claims could be made in scenarios such as the following:
A driver was travelling much too quickly and failed to make a bend, losing control of the car and swerving violently onto the pavement. Despite attempting to dive out of the way, the car hit you at speed. You suffered serious injuries to multiple internal organs.
Talk to a member of our advice team for a free eligibility check today
Can I Claim For Internal Organ Medical Negligence?
You can claim for internal organ medical negligence yes, although you’ll need to demonstrate fault on part of the doctors in order to do so. Medical professionals are required to provide care to their patients that meets the correct standards. As medical practice is a very broad area, what amounts to the correct standard will differ across different areas of medicine. An example of how a failure in care could result in organ damage would be:
Carelessness during your surgery resulted in a scalpel being left inside your abdomen following the procedure. The retained object badly lacerated your large intestine, causing internal bleeding and requiring an emergency removal.
You can find out more about making a medical negligence claim for organ damage by speaking to one of Accident Claims’ dedicated advisors.
Criminal Violence Or Assault Internal Organ Injury Claims
In cases where a violent crime, such as assault, has caused you to suffer internal organ damage, you can seek criminal injuries compensation for this. There are 3 main ways this can be done:
- Directly against your attacker.
- Against your employer, healthcare provider or another organisation for failing to protect you from the attack when there was a known risk to your safety. This is known as making a vicarious liability claim.
- Claiming through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).
Learn more about this type of claim today by speaking to one of our advisors.
Common Internal Organ Injury Examples
Common internal organ injury examples include:
- Punctured lungs.
- Internal bleeding.
- Brain Damage.
- Perforation of the bowels.
- Bruising to the kidneys, liver and spleen. This type of injury usually occurs from heavy blunt force trauma to the abdomen, such as in a road traffic collision or falls from height.
You can find out about claiming for your specific injuries by speaking to our specialist advisors. Our team maintains a 24/7 help desk so why not give us a call?
What Symptoms Could Indicate An Internal Organ Injury?
Bruising, the presence of blood, and feelings of intense nausea are all potential symptoms of an internal organ injury. We’ve given some more in-depth examples here:
- Bleeding: coughing up blood or blood coming from other orifices could be a sign of internal damage.
- IBS and stomach cramping: irritation of the digestive tract could be caused by injuries to the bowels, stomach and intestines.
- Difficulty going to the bathroom: Pain when using the toilet, or struggling to use the toilet might indicate your bladder or bowels have been damaged in some way.
- Nausea and vomiting: a lot of internal organ damage, including brain damage, can cause feelings of intense nausea.
- Coughing, wheezing or shortness of breath: signs that there is something wrong with the lungs.
- Skin discolouration: as an example, the yellowing of the skin is a tell-tale sign that your liver is not functioning properly.
Other symptoms may also arise following an accident so it’s important to pay attention to any changes and seek medical help accordingly. None of these symptoms are a guarantee of organ damage but it’s always better to be safe if you have been involved in an incident at work, while driving or while out in public. You can learn more about claiming in your particular case by talking to our advisors.
What Impacts Can An Organ Injury Have On Someone’s Quality Of Life?
Functional impairment, reduced mobility, pain and scarring are all possible impacts of organ injuries on a person’s quality of life. These impacts have been summarised below:
- Bleeding, including internal bleeding.
- Coughing, wheezing and difficulty breathing.
- Reduced ability to take part in sports, do jobs around the house or at work.
- Long term reductions in heart and lung function.
- A personality shift, loss of intellect and epilepsy.
- Temporary or permanent paralysis.
- Loss of senses such as speech, sight and hearing.
How Much Organ Injury Compensation Can I Claim?
Organ injury compensation can reach up to £277,980 for the loss of, or serious permanent damage to both kidneys. Taken from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), while at the extreme end of what an internal organ injury claim could be worth, does illustrate the large sums that could be paid out for these types of harm.
The JCG publication sets out guideline compensation brackets for different injuries and it is used by solicitors and other legal professionals to help them calculate compensation figures during the claims process. There are 2 heads of loss that this compensation can be determined under:
- General damages, for the actual injuries, are calculated using the JCG and any relevant medical evidence.
- Special damages payments can be made for any financial harm that results from the organ damage, but more on this below.
We have used some of the JCG brackets for internal organ injuries to create the table here. It should be noted that the top entry is not a JCG figure.
Compensation Table
We would like to emphasise that this table is intended to act as guidance only.
| Injury Type with Severity | Guideline Payout Amount | Table Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Very Serious Damage to Multiple Internal Organs together with Significant Financial Harm | Up to £1,000,000+ | Very serious cases where there is injury to multiple internal organs resulting in significant costs to the claimant including a loss of income, medical expenses and the need for professional care. |
| Kidney - Serious and Permanent Damage (a) | £223,800 to £277,980 | The loss of, or serious and permanent damage to both kidneys. |
| Kidney - Total Loss of Function (b) | Up to £84,530 | Risk of UTI or other total loss of natural function. |
| Kidney - Loss of 1 Kidney (c) | £40,650 to £59,290 | The loss of 1 kidney with no damage to the other. |
| Chest Injuries - Loss of 1 lung and/or Serious Heart Damage (a) | £133,000 to £198,320 | Prolonged pain and suffering and permanent scarring. |
| Chest Injuries - Traumatic Injury (b) | £86,860 to £133,000 | Reduction in life expectancy and functional impairment from traumatic injury to the chest and/or internal organs. |
| Chest Injuries - Damage to Chest and Lungs (c) | £41,370 to £72,440 | Some continuing disability due to damage to the chest and lungs. |
| Bladder - Complete Loss of Function (b) | Up to £185,840 | A complete loss of bladder function. |
| Bowels - Passive Incontinence (c) | In the region of £105,580 | Faecal urgency and passive incontinence causing distress and embarrassment. |
| Spleen - Loss of Spleen (a) | £27,480 to £34,740 | Loss of the spleen with significant risk of further infection. |
Can Internal Organ Injury Claims Cover Special Damages?
Yes internal organ injury claims can cover special damages for the costs incurred due to these injuries. It is very common to see special damages payments be much higher than equivalent general damages, as both past and future losses may be compensated.
Potential examples may include:
- A loss of earnings, as well as any loss of future earnings.
- Medical expenses. This could be private surgeries, medications and other treatments.
- Rehabilitation sessions to slowly build your strength back after suffering organ damage. For example, cardiac rehabilitation focuses on heart recovery, including exercises, stress management and healthy living.
- You may require additional care and support in the home if the damage to your organs means you can’t complete domestic duties safely.
- Travel expenses, such as to and from rehabilitation or hospital appointments, or for your commute once you return to work.
Make sure you have all the relevant documentation to prove what losses you incurred. Your payslips, bills for care and travel tickets may all be used as evidence for special damages. While we hope you’ve found this information helpful, we need to reiterate that it is intended as a rough guide only. Every claim will have its own features and the impacts on your life will not be the same as those experienced by someone else. You can get a more personalised idea of what your potential claim could be worth by speaking to our friendly advisors today.
4.8What Will I Need To Bring A Claim For Injured Organs?
You will need sufficient evidence of fault, as well as ongoing records of the impacts the accident has had on you in order to bring a claim for injured organs. In the headings below, we’ve set out how to do this, as well as other important steps to take to support your claim.
Seek Appropriate Medical Attention
This is the single most important thing to do after any accident, but especially after suspected organ damage. Tissue damage often comes with internal bleeding or a bile leak, a serious medical condition. Getting medical help straightaway will ensure this damage gets repaired properly, and prevent future loss of function. Any treatment you undergo will also generate medical records that can be used as evidence for the claim.
Collect The Right Evidence
The evidence needed for a personal injury claim can include any video footage of the accident taking place, your medical records as noted above and photographs of the immediate scene. Any proof you provide will need to demonstrate that the third party was at fault for your injuries, as well as show what those injuries were.
Report The Incident
All incidents where someone has been injured should be reported to the relevant authorities but this takes on increased significance when the injury is as serious as internal organ damage. The persons who should be informed of accidents are:
- Your supervisor, manager or team leader should be notified of any accident in the workplace as soon as possible. This not only ensures you can get the necessary first aid before an ambulance arrives, but that an official record of what occurred can be made in the workplace accident book.
- For accidents in public places, inform a member of staff what has occurred and call the emergency services. Occupiers also need to make formal records of any accidents that occur on the premises.
- The police will attend the scene of any road traffic accident where a person has been injured, the carriageway is blocked or there is a suspected criminal offence, such as drink driving. Make sure you give the attending officers as much information as you can. Any relevant insurers should also be notified.
If you are unable to make the official reports yourself, as would likely be the case following damage to your internal organs, someone else can complete the records on your behalf.
Keep Ongoing Records
Keeping a diary during your treatment and recovery might not sound like much, but it is a very useful thing to do. By noting what injuries you have experienced, how they were treated and the effects on your daily life, you provide a much more personal account than other evidence is capable of providing. This is a very good way of highlighting your mental state, and the impacts your injuries have had on you.
Consult A Legal Professional
Seeking professional legal advice will be very beneficial to you. A solicitor can explain the claims process in more detail, give you a better understanding of what your specific claim could be worth and ensure you get the right support throughout the dispute. Accident Claims’ solicitors are highly experienced personal injury specialists with long lists of happy, satisfied clients stretching back years.
To get connected with one of our solicitors, simply contact our advisors for a free eligibility check. If eligible, you’ll be matched with a solicitor who meets your personal needs and can provide all the information and guidance you need to begin the claims process.
Check The Time Limit
The final thing we want to raise here is the personal injury claims time limit, or “limitation period” as it is sometimes known. For the majority of cases, the Limitation Act 1980 imposes a time limit of 3 years from the date of the accident for any claim to be begun. Exceptions to this will apply if the injured person is a child, or does not have the capacity to claim for themselves so it is important to check you are working to the correct timescales.
Our advisors can offer further guidance on any of these points, as well as assess your claim’s validity free of charge. Talk to a member of our team today via the contact information given below.
Claim Compensation For Organ Injuries With Accident Claims
Accident Claims’ solicitors have the knowledge, the experience and the extensive back catalogue of personal injury claims success to say with confidence we can offer a service that meets the highest standards. Working to clear No Win No Fee terms, our experts work hard to build the case around you, so you can focus on your recovery.
Why Choose Accident Claims’ Solicitors For Organ Injury Compensation?
Here are just some of the ways our solicitors can assist you throughout the internal organ injury claims process and the services they can provide:
- Connecting you with the right healthcare specialists, such as cardiologists, pulmonologists and gastroenterologists, to ensure you receive all necessary medical care and rehabilitative services.
- Assisting you with evidence collection that proves liability for your organ damage.
- Ensuring compliance with any court instructions and deadlines.
- Communicating with the defendants on your behalf so you can focus on recovering from the damage to your internal organs.
- Determining a compensation figure that reflects not only the damage to your organs but the knock-on effects on your day-to-day life.
- Negotiating a settlement with the defendants.
Can I Claim For Organ Injuries On A No Win No Fee Basis With Accident Claims?
You can most definitely claim for organ injuries on a No Win No Fee basis with Accident Claims as our solicitors work solely on this premise. While there are a few different types of No Win No Fee contracts, our solicitors offer claimants their services under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). With this contract, you won’t be paying service fees to the solicitor at the start of or during the claims process. There will also be no service fee if the claim is lost.
Should you win, however, a success fee will be taken from the compensation. There is a binding cap of 25% on the percentage solicitors may charge as their success fee so at all stages, the CFA protects you from having to fork out large sums for the solicitor’s services.
Get In Touch With Our Team
Get in touch with our team today using the contact details given here:
- Call us on 0800 073 8801.
- You can contact us online by completing this callback form.
- Open the live chat in the bottom left of your screen.
Learn More
See more of our personal injury claims guides here:
- You can find out more about company car accident claims with this guide.
- Get further information on making a public liability personal injury claim here.
- Our guide to multiple injury claims examines this type of claim further.
These external resources contain additional information that we hope you find useful:
- Find out when to dial 999 from the NHS.
- Learn more about the work of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) on their website.
- Access the advice for road users from THINK!.
We’d like to thank you for reading our guide to internal organ injury claims. Further guidance, advice and a free eligibility check are all available from our advisory team. Get in touch today using the details given above.