Personal Injury

[shortwoman68]

My partner is had a medical injury where he received a chemical burn from a back slab (plaster burn) which was not put on his calf properly as there was not enough padding. Due to this, my partners has to travel once or twice a week to the Burns unit which is a distance away, by cab, which is costing us money.  During his last visit to the hospital,  the Quality and Risk Manager emailed me stating that they would reimburse the cost of his travel if I forward her the receipts, which I have done. Prior to this,  I submitted a complaint on my partners behalf to the private hospital which should have been answered within 20 days however they extended it to 25 days.  The 25 days were up on 5th April and I emailed the Chief Executive asking why there was no response. We then received a letter apologising for the delay and stating that the individuals that were involved were absent and therefore the response to the investigation would be delayed. I responded to the letter by email and received an out of office reply that the Chief Executive would not be back until 23rd April and for any further concerns please email his PA, therefore I forwarded the email to her.

 

My partner had to visit 2 hospitals for treatment and each consultant encouraged him to sue the hospital as the burn is the worse they have seen (my partner had to had 2 skin grafts).  We have seen a Solicitor who will be dealing with my partners claim on a No win, No fee basis, however my question is, if the hospital comes back to my partner with a settlement, does he have to give a portion to the solicitor or can he just cancel the solicitor.  We both do not know how this works..a response would be appreciated. 

[BankFodder]

Well you will have entered into an agreement with the solicitor and you will need to consult the terms of that agreement.

However, I can't imagine that you haven't agreed to pay over a percentage of the damages that you receive. At the same time, if the hospital is liable for the injury and it seems to me to be reasonable that they should reimburse you all of your costs including legal costs. Have you not discussed this with the solicitors before you entered into the agreement?

[shortwoman68]

Thank you for the reply.  My partner has received the documents from the Solicitor but he has not signed it as yet as he was waiting to hear the outcome of the complaint but the Solicitor has emailed me asking for the signed documents to be returned. But no, this did not spring to mind at the time until recently.  I will look at the documentation to see if this is mentioned.  

[BankFodder]

You also need to be aware of the likely value of the injury. You could find that you are made an offer which could be less than the maximum possible and yet if you refuse it, your solicitor might claim the right to claim his fee anyway even though you haven't been given the best offer possible.

I'm really not terribly familiar with these deals – but I would be very careful and I would look around for good information about the pros and cons of them.