When you make a personal injury claim you may hear certain terms being used which you would not normally hear in general speech or may never have heard.
In this blog I will explain some terms to you that may help you understand the process of your personal injury claim. Don’t worry, if you don’t remember everything, you can not be expected to know all the jargon, but it is helpful to have an idea of some so that you can find it easy to communicate with your personal injury lawyer.
Injuries
When you are involved in an accident you could suffer various types of injuries. A lot of injuries encountered are orthopaedic (bone) injuries. Some jargon that may be used in a medical report is as follows.
a) Arthrodesis – this means a joint has been fused either due to a pre-existing joint disease or as a result of trauma to the joint.
b) Contusion – this is when there is an injury to the skin and deeper tissues accompanied by bleeding of damaged blood vessels but with no break of the skin.
c) Clavicle – this is your collar bone.
d) Dislocation – this is when the bones of a joint are out of alignment or have become disconnected from one another.
e) Fracture – this is when there is a break in the continuity of the bone.
f) Scaphoid cast – this is a cast which covers the arm from below the elbow up to the start of the fingers.
g) Scipher spica cast – this is basically body jacket covering the trunk, shoulder and elbow.
h) Whiplash - whiplash neck sprain is when your head is suddenly jolted backwards and forwards in a whip-like movement.
Medical Experts
In order to claim for injuries sustained, you need to obtain a medical report. Your injury solicitor will do that for you by instructing a medical expert. A medical expert will arrange an appointment with you during which the expert will discuss details of the accident and details of the injuries that were sustained. The medical expert will also have access to your past medical history in order to ascertain if you had any previous condition that is relevant. For example, if you had a history of a bad back and you sustained an injury to your back in the accident, the medical expert will need to mention the fact that the accident had caused an aggravation to the previously existing back problem.
The medical report will detail the type of injury suffered, the effect it had you and your life in general, for how long the injury is likely to last and if any further medical treatment or referral is needed.
The kind of medical expert your injury lawyer would instruct depends on the type of injury you sustained. A list of some of the experts used are as follows.
a) General Practitioner – A lot of the time a Claimant does not suffer very serious injury or sometimes it may not appear that they have suffered a very serious injury. In those circumstances you would instruct a General Practitioner to examine and prepare a report. This is normally done in straight forward road traffic accident where a Claimant is complaining of a stiff neck or aching back for example. If the General Practitioner believes that the Claimant has suffered a more serious injury he will state in his report that the Claimant needs to be referred to another expert – for example an Orthopaedic surgeon if a whiplash injury is causing particular problems.
b) Orthopaedic surgeon – an Orthopaedic surgeon will be instructed if the Claimant has suffered a fracture, or some kind of bone injury. Orthopaedic surgeons are also sometimes used when a Claimant has suffered a more serious whiplash or back injury.
c) Neuro-surgeon – A Neuro-surgeon is instructed if a Claimant suffered a serious head injury, for example a brain injury.
d) Plastic Surgeon – A plastic surgeons is instructed if a Claimant has suffered a burn injury or if he has suffered an injury that has lead to serious scarring.
e) Dentist / Dental surgeon – If a Claimant has sustained broken teeth or any other type of inner mouth injury a Dentist or Dental surgeon will need to be instructed depending on how serious the injury is.
f) Psychologist – A Claimant may have suffered some psychological trauma as a result of the accident or as a direct result of the injury; in that case a Psychologist would be instructed to examine him and prepare a report.
Asiimwe Balinda
Personal Injury Solicitor