Spinal injuries can have serious long-term, life-changing effects on individuals and their loved ones. Where a spinal injury is caused by negligent medical care, it can be especially traumatic and difficult to deal with. This is where our experienced team of medical negligence solicitors can support you with making a spinal injury claim.
We understand that you are likely to feel confused and angry about the circumstances surrounding the injury. You may rightly feel that, had you received appropriate medical care, you would have avoided the spinal injury.
At Ashtons Legal, our spinal injury solicitors have extensive experience in helping those with spinal injuries get their lives back on track, having obtained some exceptional results for our clients. Ashtons Legal is one of only 75 solicitors’ firms nationally to be recommended on the Spinal Injuries Association website, having met their specialist panel requirements.
We know that receiving spinal injury compensation will not put right the mistakes that have been made, nor will it help to make the situation any easier to accept. However, compensation will allow you to financially support yourself and your family and ensure that any immediate and future needs you have as a result of the injury can be met.
Our spinal injury negligence solicitors can offer you:
- Free initial consultation on your claim
- No win, no fee funding
- A negotiation-led approach that means most claims are settled out of court
- Independently accredited expertise you can trust
- A very high track record of successful claims
- A sensitive, personal service to support you during this difficult time
- A free rehabilitation service to aid you or your loved one’s recovery.
Contact Our Spinal Injury Claims Solicitors
To make a spinal injury claim, please get in touch with our experienced spinal injury solicitors. You will be offered a free initial consultation to discuss the details of your claim and learn more about how we can help.
If you have an enquiry regarding a spinal injury negligence claim, please call us on 0330 404 0776, email enquiries@ashtonslegal.co.uk or fill in the enquiry form on the right-hand side of the page, and one of our specialists will be in touch. In the meantime, you might also find our medical negligence FAQs of assistance.
Ashtons Legal Medical Negligence team
Ashtons’ specialist medical negligence solicitors have substantial experience in supporting clients with a wide range of claims, including spinal injury claims. This experience has allowed us to establish a strong reputation for understanding the individual needs of our clients and successful outcomes.
When you choose to work with Ashtons Legal, you will benefit from working alongside committed, understanding and knowledgeable specialists.
Senior members of our medical negligence team are acknowledged by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) as either Senior Fellows or Senior Litigators and are on the Law Society Clinical Negligence panel.
Sharon Allison, the Head of Medical Negligence, also is a member of the Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) Clinical Negligence Panel.
Spinal Injury Claims Case Studies
- Six figure settlement obtained after delayed diagnosis led to paraplegia
- Settlement of over £250,000 obtained for lady who was left paraplegic after surgery
How to Make a Spinal Injury Claim
Our medical negligence team have substantial experience in supporting individuals to pursue spinal injury compensation. No matter how the spinal injury was sustained, if you believe that medical negligence caused or worsened your condition, you may have grounds to make a claim.
We recognise how stressful these claims can be, and we take every step possible to provide close personal support and keep the process as straightforward as possible. We lead you through the entire process of making a claim from start to finish, handling every aspect of your claim, ensuring you need not turn anywhere else for further support.
Our spinal injury negligence claims service includes:
- Assessing your spinal injury claim and arranging funding via a ‘no win, no fee’ agreement
- Building your spinal injury medical negligence case, including access to experienced medical experts to support your claim
- Drafting and submitting a Letter of Claim to the Defendant
- Mediation processes to reach a settlement
- Representing you in Court if required
- Access to our free rehabilitation service for ongoing health and welfare support.
To make a spinal injury claim, get in touch with our solicitors at Ashtons Legal. You can find out more about the specific processes involved in claiming spinal injury compensation below.
Our Spinal Injury Claims Service
Assessing Your Spinal Injury
The first step in any spinal injury claim is to carefully assess the details of the spinal injury. During your initial consultation, you will have the opportunity to go through the details of your injury and how this has affected you or another person for whom you are making a claim.
This information will enable our spinal injury solicitors to assess the merits of a claim and consider what the likely chance of success is. If we believe that you have a claim that should be investigated, we will explain the options available to you, including how to fund your claim, which will include our ‘no win, no fee’ agreement.
Building Your Spinal Injury Negligence Claim
To build an effective spinal injury claim, our solicitors will obtain and review all of your medical records, gather witness statements and instruct independent medical experts to assess whether the standard of care you received directly caused or contributed to your spinal injury.
This process will enable our spinal injury solicitors to establish a full picture of exactly what happened and the impact the spinal injury has had on your life.
Submitting the Letter of Claim
If the medical records, factual evidence and medical expert evidence supports a claim for medical negligence, we will draft a Letter of Claim to the Defendant.
The Letter of Claim will set out in detail the allegations of negligence against the Defendant and how the spinal injury could have been avoided. The Defendant has four months from the date of receipt of the letter in which to respond.
If the Defendant admits negligence, our spinal injury solicitors will then proceed to value your spinal injury claim and enter into negotiations with the Defendant to reach settlement of your claim. Where possible, we can also arrange for interim damages to be paid by the Defendant to meet any immediate needs you may have.
If the Defendant denies allegations of negligence, we will instruct a barrister on your behalf and review the Defendant’s response in discussion with you, the barrister and the medical experts to consider the reasonableness of those denials and the merits of issuing court proceedings.
In most cases, it is rare that a trial is required, and we will attempt to achieve a reasonable settlement at every opportunity. However, if an appropriate settlement cannot be reached, then we will support and represent you throughout the trial.
Mediation Processes
If the Defendant admits to negligence, our spinal injury solicitors will seek to negotiate a settlement via mediation or a joint settlement meeting. We have substantial experience in using mediation for spinal injury cases and have a strong track record of securing high levels of compensation.
Court Processes
If it is not possible to reach a suitable settlement via mediation or joint settlement meeting, our spinal injury solicitors will represent you in court. We have links to highly regarded barristers and can assure that you will have access to the highest standard of representation throughout the whole process.
Free Rehabilitation Service
Suffering a spinal injury can be an extremely traumatic experience with the potential for long-term health implications, which may require additional health care and rehabilitation. Our specialist spinal injury solicitors will work with our rehabilitation team, providing a service that is free of charge, to do all we can to assist you to navigate your needs. This service is provided regardless of whether your spinal injury claim is successful or not.
For more information about this service, please get in touch with our medical negligence team at Ashtons Legal.
Spinal Injury Compensation Claims Fees
‘No Win No Fee’ Spinal Injury Claims
Our spinal injury solicitors work on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis. This means when you pursue a claim with our team, you will only have to contribute to your legal fees if your claim is successful.
In many cases, if your spinal injury negligence claim is successful, the majority of your legal fees will be covered by the Defendant. If it is not successful, you will not have to pay anything towards your fees. In order to ensure transparency from the outset, we will explain to you (before you sign any agreement for us to act on your behalf) the level of your contribution to your fees if you win.
Please be assured that if your claim is unsuccessful, you will not have to pay anything towards your fees.
Frequently Asked Questions About Spinal Injury Claims
What is a Spinal Injury?
A spinal injury, or spinal cord injury, is any type of damage to the spinal cord or the nerves at the end of the spinal canal (cauda equina). Spinal cord injuries can often permanently change the way the body functions, as well as lead to changes in strength and sensation.
Spinal injuries can be the result of an accident or, in some cases, medical negligence.
What are Common Spinal Injuries?
There are a number of common spinal injuries which can be caused or exacerbated by medical negligence. These include but are not limited to:
- Complete spinal cord injuries
- Tetraplegia
- Paraplegia
- Triplegia.
- Incomplete spinal cord injuries
- Anterior Cord Syndrome
- Central Cord Syndrome
- Brown-Sequard Syndrome.
What Happens if a Spinal Cord Injury is Left Untreated?
If a spinal cord injury is left untreated, or there is a delay in receiving adequate medical treatment, the symptoms are likely to become increasingly worse. Spinal injuries do not always lead to immediate paralysis, with some symptoms slowly manifesting themselves over time.
How Much Compensation Will I Get for a Spinal Injury?
It is not always possible to determine exactly how much spinal injury compensation you will receive when making a claim.
The level of compensation you can expect to receive for a successful spinal injury negligence claim will depend on a number of factors, including the type of spinal injury and the impact it has had on your life. All claims are unique and the final settlement will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Spinal injury compensation typically covers any financial costs you have incurred as a result of the injury, which may include medical bills, any loss of earnings, as well as non-financial impact, such as your general pain and suffering. It can also include future costs such as adaptations to your home, and/or purchase of an adapted property and personal care, if required.
How Long Do Spinal Cord Injuries Take?
Our spinal injury solicitors seek to resolve spinal injury compensation claims as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Unfortunately, it may not always be possible to provide an exact timescale when it comes to reaching a spinal injury settlement, as claims can often be complex and of high value.
Please be assured that our team will keep you fully updated on the progress of your spinal injury claim and will provide a realistic timescale so you know exactly what to expect.
How Can I Prove I Have a Spinal Injury?
Proving that a spinal injury has occurred as a result of medical negligence will be determined by medical evidence and independent medical examinations. This may involve diagnostic imaging tests such as CT Scans and MRI scans.
How Long Do I Have to Make a Spinal Injury Compensation Claim?
Generally, in England and Wales, there is a three-year limit to make a spinal injury claim.
The three-year time limit will either start from the date the medical negligence occurred, causing the spinal injury, or the ‘date of knowledge’. This is the date you were first aware or should have reasonably been aware that you suffered a spinal injury.
There are some important exceptions to the general rule which you should be aware of. These include where:
- You are making a claim on behalf of a child (someone under the age of 18 years old). You can make a claim at any time before the child turns 18. Once the child turns 18, they will then have until they are 21 to make a claim.
- You are claiming on behalf of someone who lacks mental capacity to make a claim. In this situation, there are no time limits to make a claim.
Why Choose Ashtons Legal?
The medical negligence team at Ashtons Legal put our clients at the heart of everything we do. They are first and foremost. We are committed to providing a service to our clients that is tailored to their individual needs.
We avoid using legal jargon. We are sensitive to our clients’ situations and appreciate that they are seeking help at a time when they are likely to be at their most vulnerable. We endeavour to provide a kind but clear and approachable service.
Ashtons Legal is an industry-leading law firm, which we owe to our expertise and dedication to supporting our clients. We have established an outstanding reputation in the legal sector and within the wider communities we serve.
As a firm, we are recognised by legal commentators Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners for our outstanding medical negligence services, including for spinal injury negligence claims. We hold many specialist accreditations including Lexcel, AvMa, Brain Injury Group, APIL and much more.
Contact Our Spinal Injury Negligence Solicitors
To make a spinal injury claim, please get in touch with our experienced spinal injury solicitors. You will be offered a free initial consultation to discuss the details of your claim and learn more about how we can help.
If you have an enquiry regarding a spinal injury negligence claim, please call us on 0330 404 0776, email enquiries@ashtonslegal.co.uk or fill in the enquiry form on the right-hand side of the page, and one of our specialists will be in touch. In the meantime, you might also find our medical negligence FAQs of assistance.
