No Win, No FeeAny type of kidney injury can be physically draining, and painful and put you at risk of developing medical problems for years to come and hugely affect your mental health. While you might not automatically think about money after suffering a kidney injury, if you’re suffering has been caused by medical negligence or an accident that wasn’t your fault, you might be entitled to claim compensation. This article about kidney injury compensation claims will explain your options in detail.
We’re on standby to help if you have any questions. During a free initial consultation, we’ll review your case and explain your chances of being compensated. While you’re under no obligation to claim when you contact us, we could partner you with a specialist solicitor from our panel if your claim is strong enough. If you decide to proceed, their representation will be provided on a No Win, No Fee basis.
To find out more about making a kidney injury compensation claim please read on or call us on 0800 652 1345 if you’d prefer to discuss a claim right away.
What do the kidneys do?
Kidneys are a vital organ in the body with various roles including:
- Filtering water and waste from the blood.
- Cleaning blood and controlling the number of red blood cells.
- Helping maintain blood pressure.
- Keeping bones healthy.
- Releasing hormones.
- Stimulate blood production by the bone marrow.
Common types of injuries to kidneys
Some of the most common types of injuries to kidneys you could claim compensation for if negligence is the cause include:
- Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) – a long-term condition resulting in reduced kidney function. In rare cases, CKD can mean that the kidneys stop functioning altogether.
- Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) – Where the kidneys stop working suddenly. AKI is usually linked to another problem in the body and can result in a minor loss of function or complete kidney failure. AKI can be caused by low blood volume, heart failure, liver failure and sepsis.
- Kidney cancer – According to the NHS, kidney cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in the UK. Also known as renal cancer, it can be cured if diagnosed early and hasn’t spread beyond the kidney.
- Kidney stones – tiny kidney stones can cause massive amounts of pain. They can also cause reduced kidney function, blood in the urine and infections
- Traumatic kidney injuries – where an outside force causes damage to the kidneys. This can involve blunt trauma where force causes bruising (a kidney contusion) without piercing the skin or penetrating trauma such as stab wounds.
Other kidney conditions that you may have heard of include Berger’s disease (IgA), polycystic kidney disease, renovascular disease, nephrotic syndrome, Alport syndrome and chronic pyelonephritis.
Can I claim compensation for a kidney injury?
As we’ll explain shortly, there are various reasons someone might wish to claim compensation for a kidney injury. In general, our panel of solicitors could help you to claim for a kidney injury sustained in an accident if:
- You were owed a legal duty of care by the defendant; and
- They acted negligently; and
- You sustained kidney damage or your illness worsened because of their negligence.
A duty of care is usually formed by certain pieces of legislation. For example, if your kidney was injured after being knocked off of your bike, then the Road Traffic Act 1988 would apply. If the injury were sustained whilst working, the relevant law might be the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
You don’t need to brush up on your legal knowledge to start a claim as our team will check which law is relevant as part of your free consultation. However, you can make the claims process easier by collecting proof that shows the cause of your kidney injury. We’ll explain more about this later on.
Common accidents that cause kidney injuries
An injury to a kidney can occur as a result of various types of accidents, some of the most common being:
- Car accidents – especially those involving high-speed collisions or impacts from the side or rear of a vehicle.
- Sports injuries – contact sports like football, hockey and rugby can result in direct trauma to the kidneys.
- Falls – Falls from heights, down stairs, or on slippery surfaces and potholes can cause kidney injuries.
- Physical assault – violent attacks or blows to the abdomen can damage the kidneys.
- Workplace accidents – such as being crushed by heavy machinery like forklift trucks etc.
- Medical negligence – for example, late or misdiagnosed kidney disease or cancer.
Claiming for criminal injuries
If you’re unfortunate enough to have suffered a kidney injury from an assault, you could be compensated by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). For example, you could claim if your kidney was stabbed or penetrated by a broken rib.
This is not a personal injury claim but it is something our solicitors can help with. CICA compensation can result in damages being paid for both physical and psychological injuries.
Importantly, you must have a crime reference number from the police and your claim must be made within 2 years of being injured.
How much compensation do you get for a kidney injury?
At the time of your accident, how much compensation you could get for a kidney injury isn’t likely to have even crossed your mind. However, once it’s clear how you have been affected by the injury there are various reasons why a settlement can be very helpful. Firstly, you could claim damages for the pain the damage to your kidney has caused (general damages). Secondly, your claim could recoup any financial losses caused by the injury. Each case is unique but kidney injury compensation could consist of elements covering your:
- Pain and discomfort caused by physical symptoms.
- Loss of enjoyment of your normal activities.
- Psychological harm (distress, depression, anxiety etc).
- Lost income.
- Medical expenses.
- Travel costs i.e. fuel and parking fees for dialysis treatment.
- The cost of a carer.
- Future loss of earnings.
- Home adaptations if they’ll help you to cope with a permanent disability resulting from a kidney injury.
If your claim is accepted, your solicitor will go through your case in detail to try and make sure everything is included in your claim.
Providing proof for kidney injury compensation claims
The type of proof you’ll need to help you win a kidney injury claim will depend on the type of claim. For example, if you’ve lost a kidney because of medical negligence, your solicitor will request copies of your medical records as a starting point and ask an independent specialist to review your treatment to help identify what went wrong.
If you suffered kidney damage in an accident, photographs of the accident scene, CCTV footage, hospital records and witness statements could be used to prove how the accident occurred.
Other forms of proof that will be helpful with kidney injury claims include:
- Correspondence and complaints. If you wrote to a hospital or formally complained about your treatment, any responses could be used to clarify why you suffered a kidney injury.
- Accident reports. If you have a copy of an accident report relating to a workplace accident or an accident in a public place, this could be used to show when the incident occurred.
- Financial records. If you’re to claim back any costs caused by a kidney injury, you should provide copies of any receipts, wage slips or bank statements.
- A personal statement. Your solicitor will help you to explain the impact of your kidney injury by taking a personal statement. This will detail any days your injuries stopped you from participating in your usual activities and when you were unable to work.
As part of their service, your solicitor will help to gather any proof needed to prove your case. If you have any proof already, please let the advisor know when you call.
No Win, No Fee kidney injury claims
It’s fair to say that nobody wants to pay legal fees after losing a compensation claim. That’s understandable and it’s the reason our panel of personal injury and medical negligence solicitors offer a No Win, No Fee service.
At the start of the claims process, you’ll be sent a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) if a solicitor from our panel agrees to work for you. Once signed, your solicitor’s main goals will be to:
- Investigate the cause of your accident and injuries in more detail.
- Collect any information needed to support your kidney injury claim.
- File the claim with the defendant.
- Be the point of contact for the defendant’s insurers meaning you won’t face any difficult questions directly.
- Try to argue your case if any objections are raised.
- Provide regular updates about how your claim is moving along.
In all cases, your solicitor will try to make sure that you are paid the highest settlement amount possible.
You won’t be asked to pay any legal fees upfront and you won’t pay any if the claim is lost.
If you are awarded compensation for your kidney injury, a success fee will be deducted to cover your solicitor’s time and effort. Legally, this is capped at 25 per cent of your compensation. The amount you’ll pay will be listed in your CFA before you sign it.
Kidney injury claim time limits
Legally, the Limitation Act 1980 sets a 3-year time limit for most personal injury claims. For kidney injury compensation claims, this will usually start from the date of your accident or when your kidney problems were diagnosed by your doctor. If you’d like to claim compensation for a child as a litigation friend, then you can do so at any point before they turn 18 years old (otherwise, they’ll have 3 years from their 18th birthday to begin their own claim).
If your kidney injury is causing financial issues, you may be entitled to be paid interim payments before your claim is settled in full. This may be possible if the defendant has accepted liability but more work is needed to understand your prognosis. Interim payments could be awarded to cover care costs, medical expenses or to cover a reduction in your earnings.
The sooner you begin your claim, the sooner you should be compensated if it is successful. So please call our team today to start the ball rolling.
Start a kidney injury compensation claim today
We hope that this article has helped you to understand when you could claim compensation for a kidney injury. To find out more about your options, call 0800 652 1345 to speak with a specialist from our team.
After reviewing your claim in detail, you’ll be given free advice and an honest assessment of how likely it is a claim will be successful. If the claim is accepted by one of our personal injury lawyers, you’ll be represented on a No Win, No Fee basis.
If you have any immediate questions you need answering about kidney injury claims you can call us or use our live chat right now.
