Compensation Amounts

How the compensation sum is comprised

The money won in medical negligence compensation claims is typically made up of four elements. These are:

• special damages — money you have had to spend or have lost as a result of suffering your injury, for example medical bills and lost income
• general damages — these compensate for physical and psychological pain which you have experienced after sustaining your injury
• interest — on both the above
• legal costs

Calculating the amount of compensation to claim for

When considering how much money your claim may be worth, your solicitor will focus on previous cases of a similar nature which may set a precedent. Inflation may come into the equation if the cases were from a long time ago.

Giving typical amounts of compensation for certain types of injury is hazardous, as there are so many class and subclasses of medical injury which can occur. Comparative amounts of compensation will reflect the respective severity of different injuries, for example claims for severe brain damage could result in awards of over £100,000 whereas a lost kidney case may only win around £25,000. Travelling further down the severity scale, an instance of dental malpractice only causing aesthetic detriment may only fetch a 4-figure sum.