Upper limb injuries are one of the most functionally limiting injuries a person can suffer. They are frequently undervalued by insurers and defendants, whose initial offers are not commensurate with the injury’s effect on the claimant’s working life, independence and quality of everyday life.
Hand injury solicitors from Watermans and other firms take these cases seriously, as one of the most frequent and avoidable mistakes in personal injury law is failing to properly value an upper-limb injury.
Why Upper Limb Injuries Are Systematically Undervalued?
The tendency by defendants and insurers to undervalue wrist, hand and arm injuries tends to be based on the injury being compared against a scale which favours injuries which are more dramatic or visible.
An injury to the hand does not have the same intuitive sense of seriousness as an injury to the spine or a major fracture of the lower limb. Still, the functional implications for someone whose occupation, lifestyle, or ability to enjoy recreation depends on fine motor skills, grip strength, or a full range of motion can be equally serious.
The solicitor job is to make sure that the claim is reflective of the impact on this claimant’s life and not a generic assessment of the type of injury.
Occupational Consequences of Hand and Wrist Damage
The consequences of a serious wrist or hand injury on employment can be very different depending on the type of job the claimant is doing. If someone is a manual worker, trades person, musician, surgeon or anyone who relies on precise or sustained hand function, damage to these structures can mean the end of a career rather than a temporary absence.
The loss-of-earnings implications in these cases can be long-term, and the claim should take that into account rather than viewing the repercussions of the employment as a short-term inconvenience. It should provide adequate medical and vocational evidence.
The Complexity of Hand and Wrist Anatomy
There is a high density of bones, tendons, ligaments, nerves, and blood vessels in the hand and wrist, and injuries in this area are clinically complex. They may be difficult to evaluate without specialist input.
Specific nerve damage resulting in abnormal sensation or chronic pain, tendon damage altering movement patterns, and carpal or metacarpal fractures involving an articular surface each have distinct functional implications that may not be discussed with adequate specificity in a generalist medical report.
Evidence from specialist orthopaedic and plastic surgery that is specific to the structures injured is critical to a claim that reflects the functional picture.
Chronic Pain and Its Place in the Claim
Chronic presentations of pain can result from upper limb injuries, especially nerve injuries and complex regional pain syndrome, and can last long after the tissue has healed.
Specific medical evidence is needed for these presentations to address the pain condition as a distinct clinical entity, its effects on function and quality of life, and realistic treatment options and prognosis.
If chronic pain has arisen as a result of the initial injury, it also constitutes a recoverable head of injury in its own right, but only if it is identified, evidenced, and claimed as a separate injury and not simply part of the general injury description.
Ensuring the Claim Captures Every Consequence
A comprehensive upper limb injury claim will include an assessment of solatium (pain and suffering), loss of income both past and future, medical and rehabilitation expenses, the need for assistance and/or adaptations to the claimant’s home and/or vehicle, and the effects on activities and pursuits that were part of the claimant’s life before the injury.
There are various pieces of evidence supporting each of these heads of loss. A claim that takes all of them into account, based on complete evidence, is poised to achieve an outcome that truly reflects the loss the injured party has suffered.
