The term “Personal Injury” refers to damages arising from an injury to the body and or emotional suffering caused by the wrongdoing or negligence of another party.
With decades of extensive experience in personal injury cases we continue to be one of the leading Personal Injury firms with thousands of happily serviced clients. We strive to execute our clients’ mandate and to obtain the best compensation due to them for damages suffered as a result of another party’s wrongful or negligent conduct.
Personal injury claims arise from accidents or incidents such as the following: motor vehicle accidents, motorbike accidents, train accidents, boat accidents, slip-and-fall accidents, dog bites, wrongful arrest, detention or assault by police officers, medical malpractice or any other injury- causing incident in a private or public place (including on streets, on pavements, and in shopping malls).
The Road Accident Fund(RAF) is a statutory body that was established in accordance with an Act of Parliament;the Road Accident Fund Act 56 of 1986 (as amended). The RAF is based on a system similar to compulsory insurance which is funded via a fuel levy. A small amount of Rands in every litre of fuel purchased in South Africa contributes towards the funds of the RAF.
The RAF has an obligation to compensate the victims of motor vehicle accidents, when the accident has taken place on South African roads. The compensation is for the damages that the victims have suffered from the resultant injuries and losses. Besides motor vehicle (this includes motorcycles) Drivers, Pedestrians, Passengers and Dependants of fatally injured Breadwinners are also insured in terms of the Road Accident Fund Act and may claim if they qualify to do so.
The first assessment of your matter by our firm’s legal team is on a “no-case no-charge” basis. Prospective cases have to be thoroughly assessed in order to establish whether the merits of the accident are in favour of the injured person that seeks compensation and whether the injury or injuries suffered qualify as “serious”, as defined in the Road Accident Fund regulations. Severe disfigurement and scarring, loss of eyesight or of limbs and brain damage are examples of severe injuries.
Once it is established that a client has a viable RAF Claim all necessary documentation and paperwork is completed before we can begin compiling the client’s Claim. Road Accident Fund Claims are lengthy processes. Full details are given to our clients about milestones that need to be reached and completed before a matter is finally settled and paid out.
A Road Accident Fund Claim has the following sections also known as heads of damages under which compensation claimed needs to be specified: Past Hospital and Medical Expenses; Future Hospital and Medical Expenses; Past and Future Loss of Earnings or Earning Capacity; General Damages (this is for pain and suffering and the loss of amenities of life); Funeral Expenses; Loss of Support.
We guide our clients through every step of the process and attend to obtaining most of the information and documentation required. However, it is crucial that clients provide us with the police case number and proof of treatment received with the details of the institution or doctor administering such treatment.
When claiming for Future Medical care, Loss of Earning Capacity and General Damages, we require our clients to attend the medico legal appointments which we arrange for our clients, with our panel of experts.
Contact us, to enquire about your prospects of successfully instituting a case and if you are still within the timeframe as permitted by the Act to lodge the claim.
Broadly Speaking, when unnecessary injury is caused to a patient in the course and scope of a healthcare providers’ duty of care of the patient there may be a medical malpractice claim against the healthcare provider, and or the medical facility.
Establishing Whether there is a viable medical negligence case is either straight forward or more or less complicated and involved because each case has its own set of facts and circumstances. There are many factors that need to be taken into account and what follows is not a full summary of every aspect that needs to be considered but is merely to provide some background information on medical negligence and malpractice.
Healthcare practitioners and medical facilities have a duty to care for the patients they accept. It is expected that in exercising their duty of care that the skill of the reasonable professional in the same circumstances is employed.
When a failure to fulfil the duty of care with the required skill takes place by the acts or omissions of the healthcare professionals, the patient is negligently injured be it physically, emotionally and or mentally and a medical negligence claim for damages suffered arises.
The injuries suffered must be the direct result of the treatment, or it must be proven that substandard treatment was administered by the healthcare professional.
Besides negligence arising from a failure to uphold the professional duty of care, an infringement of the patient’s rights, such as the patient right to obtain and to give informed consent for treatment, may result in a medical malpractice claim.
Failure to provide the required minimum standard of care, to perform necessary procedures, to misdiagnosis, as well as gross mistakes that cause severe harm to patients.
For example, a nurse can cause the patient’s wounds to become severely infected because of not carrying out the duty of proper application or removal of bandages. Nurses can provide incorrect dosages of medication, cause the patients to suffer harm by giving them the wrong medicine, or they may fail toad minister essential medication.
If you have suffered injury and damages as a patient at a hospital in South Africa, it is essential to determine who is to be held accountable. In some instances, it can be several nurses, one or more doctors, and the hospital administration.
Giusi Harper heads the medical negligence department of our firm and she will be able to assist with a preliminary assessment of a case in order to determine whether it is a viable case to pursue.