The term ‘Personal Injury’ refers to damages and suffering as a result of the wrongdoing and/or negligence of any other person, organisation, or the State, arising from:
- Motor vehicle accidents
- Train accidents
- Boat accidents
- Aeroplane accidents
- Falls, slipping or any other injury-causing incident in a private or public place (including streets, pavements and in shopping malls)
- Assault by State/police employees
- Dog and animal bites and injuries
- Medical malpractice and/or negligence
- Gunshots/shooting
Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice claims consist of the following heads of damages:
- Past medical/hospital expenses
- Future medical/hospital expenses
- Past loss of earnings/earning capacity
- Future loss of earnings/earning capacity
- General damages for pain and suffering and loss of amenities of life
- Loss of support and/or funeral expense claims
Important considerations for the successful processing of matters:
Since its inception, Houghton Harper has been committed to the plight of personal injury victims. Although monetary compensation may never restore a victim to their pre-injury status, it at the very least provides them with financial aid which can be utilised for future medical treatment, to settle past medical and hospital expenses, and in the case of loss of earnings or earning capacity, to alleviate the burden of work incapacity and pecuniary loss. The first assessment with Houghton Harper is on a no-case no-charge basis. After which, if there is a viable Personal Injury claim, we will enter into an attorney-client agreement that suits both parties. We will ensure that your claim is thoroughly and carefully investigated, compiled and brought to finalisation. A claim is built, on the one hand, with client’s co-operation in providing us with crucial information and documentation, and on the other, with our legal knowledge and panel of medical doctors’ expert opinion and evidence. We then assess the viability and possible outcome of a personal injury claim, bearing in mind that each claim is unique to a greater or lesser degree and may be determined by various factors, some of which are discussed hereunder:
Liability as a result of actions or failure to act may be unlimited or limited;
Prescription periods must be considered as they differ depending on whether the claim arose out of the negligence of Person, a Private Body, the State or a Public Body.
Medical Malpractice claims arise out of the negligent act or failure to act in the performance of a duty to provide care to a patient and/or the standard of care is outside the acceptable perimeters of the medical and healthcare profession as a whole. Medical Malpractice claims also require the issue of ‘informed consent’ to be not to have been given by a patient. It is an ethical requirement in the medical profession to make patients fully aware of both positive and negative implications of a procedure/treatment being undertaken and to obtain the patient’s explicit consent.
Personal Injury or Medical Malpractice Claim Contact Form:
If you’d like to contact us directly about your Personal Injury or Medical Malpractice Claim, please call us on 011 648 1066 or 011 023 7212.
