Did you suffer avoidable or further harm due to the negligence of a party that owes you a duty of care? If so, you may be entitled to seek compensation for your pain and suffering as well as any financial losses. We are owed a duty of care in many areas of everyday life. Throughout this guide, we will examine these areas more closely. If you’re unsure of the process, our guide which will explore how you can make a kidney injury compensation claim could help.
Kidney injury compensation claims guide
There are a few ways you may have sustained a kidney injury. For instance, you may have been crushed by a piece of machinery in work, or hit at a high impact in a road traffic accident. Alternatively, you may have suffered due to a medical misdiagnosis where a doctor fails to provide you with the correct level of care.
Either way, we understand that you may have faced both physical and psychological challenges following your injury. If so, our guide could help you understand if the circumstances of your case mean you are eligible to make a compensation claim.
However, if you have any questions, you can speak to our team by contacting us on the details below:
- Telephone- 0161 696 9685
- Fill out your details on the call-back request form
- Speak to an advisor straight away using the live chat feature below
Jump To A Section
- A Guide To Calculating Kidney Injury Compensation Claims
- What Is A Kidney Injury Compensation Claim?
- What Can Cause A Kidney Injury?
- Common Signs Of A Kidney Injury Or Disease
- How Should A Kidney Injury Be Treated?
- Acute Kidney Injury
- Chronic Kidney Disease – CKD
- Renal Failure Compensation Claims
- Calculating Kidney Injury Compensation Claims
- What Could I Claim For A Serious Injury Or Illness?
- Kidney Injury Compensation – No Win No Fee Claims
- Contact Us
- Useful Kidney Injury Compensation Links
- Frequently Asked Questions About Kidney Injury Compensation Claims
A Guide To Calculating Kidney Injury Compensation Claims
This helpful guide aims to cover the information you need to move forward with your claim.
For instance, an important aspect of the personal injury claims process is gathering evidence to support your case. For that reason, our guide will provide examples of evidence you could obtain.
We’ll also look at the role a solicitor could play in helping you build a solid case. We understand you may be apprehensive about hiring a solicitor due to the costs often associated with the services they provide. However, we’ll look at the option of a No Win No Fee agreement, which could help you avoid upfront costs.
Most importantly, we’ll look at how your kidney injury may be valued and what your settlement may comprise.
However, don’t forget you can contact our team for further help and advice if you have any questions whilst or after reading our guide.
What Is A Kidney Injury Compensation Claim?
A kidney injury compensation claim is often made when someone has sustained damage to one or both kidneys through the negligence of a party that owed them a duty of care and as a result, they are pursuing a claim for compensation.
However, for the claim to be valid, someone else must have owed you a duty of care. Furthermore, they must have breached their duty of care, which caused or contributed to the accident in which you suffered harm.
The duty of care is often established in legislation and means to protect the health of others as much as is reasonably possible. Meaning, generally, someone responsible for your health and safety must take reasonable steps to prevent you from coming into harm.
For further details, you can call our team. They can determine whether negligence occurred and whether you could pursue a kidney injury compensation claim.
What Can Cause A Kidney Injury?
A kidney injury could be caused by a workplace accident, medical negligence, accident in a public place or in a road traffic accident. Moreover, these are all areas where a duty of care is owed.
As per the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, all employers must take reasonable steps to keep you safe. Occupiers’ Liability Act 1984 applies a similar duty of care to those who use public spaces and the Road Traffic Act 1988 also acts in a similar way for road users.
In cases where someone is working with harmful substances, they should minimise or eradicate the risk of exposure through implementing reasonable safety measures. For instance, providing employees with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
In addition, as per the Highway Code, all road users must keep each other safe when using the roads, either as a pedestrian, rider or driver. For instance, a driver should adhere to the speed limits on the road. Whilst, a pedestrian, should use designated crossings to cross the road safely.
Kidney injuries may not always be caused because of a lack of health and safety or health responsibilities. They could happen for all kinds of reasons but be the fault of no one. And in these instances, a claim is not valid.
However, in some instances, a medical professional may have failed to provide you with the correct level of care. If through negligence they misdiagnosed your condition which lead to kidney issues you could be eligible to make a medical negligence claim for any avoidable harm caused.
If you’ve experienced something similar, you may be eligible to seek kidney injury compensation. For more information, use the number above to contact an advisor.
Common Signs Of A Kidney Injury Or Disease
There are different types of conditions affecting the kidney. For instance, there is Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) and Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). The symptoms they cause sufferers to experience may differ.
According to the NHS, some common symptoms of AKI might include:
- Nausea/ feeling sick or being sick
- Diarrhoea
- Dehydration
- Difficulty passing urine as often
- Drowsiness or tiredness
- Feeling confused
If you’ve experienced similar symptoms, you should seek medical advice from a trained medical professional. Alternatively, visit the NHS website.
How Should A Kidney Injury Be Treated?
In order to diagnose an acute kidney injury or AKI, a doctor may run different tests such as blood tests to check for creatinine levels.
Once they have the results, they’ll work out your estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) to see how many millilitres of waste your kidneys should be able to filter in one minute.
Additionally, they may test your urine and order an ultrasound scan of your kidneys.
Furthermore, they may investigate whether any underlying conditions are causing your injury. For instance, any pre-existing medical conditions or previous medicines you may have recently taken.
The treatment you receive will depend on the cause and severity of your injury. However, the doctor may:
- Increase your water intake if you’re dehydrated
- Prescribe antibiotics for any infections
- Advise you to stop taking certain medications
It’s important that any symptoms of a kidney injury are treated early to avoid complications such as:
- CKD
- Acidic blood
- Fluid in the lungs
- High levels of potassium in the blood
Acute Kidney Injury
Acute kidney injury is where the kidneys suddenly stop working properly.
Someone might either experience a minor loss of kidney function or complete failure. Depending on the nature of your injury, your symptoms may vary in severity.
However, the symptoms can often be debilitating, and if caused by someone else’s breach of duty, you could seek compensation.
The following sections will look at when someone might be liable for your injury.
What could cause an AKI?
According to the NHS, an acute kidney injury is often caused when the blood flow to the kidneys is reduced.
Furthermore, it’s often found in cases where someone is already unwell with another health condition, such as:
- A severe injury to the abdomen caused someone’s blood volume to become low. For instance, in a head-on collision between two cars.
- A severe compound fracture resulted in sepsis and caused someone’s heart to pump out less blood than normal. For instance, in a fall from height at work.
Liability for AKI’s
Sometimes accidents are just what they seem, an accident, that no one could have prevented. When they can be prevented it may suggest someone is liable for what happened. The person liable for the incident that caused you to suffer harm may vary depending on who owed you a duty of care.
For instance, if you suffered a kidney injury in a roundabout car accident caused by another driver texting while operating their vehicle it’s likely the other driver may have been liable for the accident that caused your injury.
Whereas you may have developed unavoidable sepsis due to an injury sustained in a fall from a defective ladder at work. In this instance, your employer may have been liable.
If you experienced something similar, you may be able to make a kidney injury compensation claim. Please speak to our team for further guidance.
Acute Kidney injury statistics
According to Think Kidneys, up to 100,000 deaths in hospitals in the UK are associated with acute kidney injury. Furthermore, 30% could have been prevented had someone been provided with the right care and treatment.
The graph below highlights injuries to the torso area, including the abdomen, sustained in non-fatal accidents at work during 2019/2020. The figures are provided by the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences (RIDDOR).
However, it’s important to be aware that the figures only concentrate on workplace accidents. Also, the figures make no suggestion of how these injuries were caused.
Chronic Kidney Disease – CKD
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is where the kidneys don’t work as well as they should. It’s a long-term condition that can have a serious impact.
CKD Symptoms
According to the NHS, symptoms of CKD might include:
- Blood in your urine
- Sleep problems such as difficulty going to sleep
- Tiredness
- Shortness of breath
- Swelling in the ankles, feet or hands caused by water retention
However, it’s important to note that these symptoms may not develop until the later stages of CKD. For that reason, it’s important to seek medical advice if you’ve experienced any of the above symptoms.
The stage of your CKD is dependent on the results of your blood tests determining your estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR).
Renal Failure Compensation Claims
In some instances, acute kidney injuries could result in CKD. Furthermore, CKD could result in complete failure of the kidneys. According to the NHS, around 1 in 50 people have CKD that progresses to kidney failure.
Additionally, CKD has an increased risk of other conditions such as cardiovascular disease.
If a medical professional fails to provide you with the correct level of care and you suffer further harm that could have been avoided, as a result, you could make a medical negligence claim.
However, you must ensure that you have evidence that they failed to take reasonable steps to prevent you from suffering avoidable or further harm. For instance, if they:
- Didn’t correctly examine the test results leading to them failing to diagnose your kidney failure
- Failed to carry out routine urine and blood tests despite your symptoms being an indication of kidney disease
- Failed to take into consideration other conditions that put you at higher risk of kidney disease, leading to a delayed diagnosis of CKD
Calculating Kidney Injury Compensation Claims
Each kidney injury compensation claim may consist of general and special damages.
General damages compensate you for the pain and suffering you’ve experienced as a result of your injuries, both physical and psychological.
Whereas, special damages compensate you for any past or future financial losses incurred as a result of your injuries.
In order to calculate the total value of your injuries, different evidence may be needed. For instance, medical evidence that highlights the diagnosis or treatment you received, such as:
- Doctors reports
- Hospital reports
- Prescriptions
Additionally, you may be asked to attend an additional medical assessment. This can provide an independent report on the current state of your injuries or condition.
More specifically, if your accident wasn’t recent, the assessment can provide an insight into how your injuries have progressed. Furthermore, it can show the long term impact your injuries may have had on you.
In addition, the Judicial College provides a document that is often used to help value injuries alongside different forms of evidence.
By using figures from the JCG, we have created a table detailing bracket amounts for different kidney injuries. However, you should only use the table as a guide as various factors will be taken into account, meaning your actual settlement will vary.
| Injury | Compensation figure | Details of the injury |
|---|---|---|
| Kidney | Serious damage to both kidneys resulting in permanent issues. | £158,970 to £197,480 |
| Kidney | Total loss of function or injuries where there is a risk of a urinary tract infection. | Up to £60,050 |
| Kidney | Where someone loses one kidney but has no damage to the other kidney. | £28,880 to £42,110 |
| Mental Anguish | Where someone has a fear of impending death. | 4380 |
For more information on the financial losses, you could claim for under special damages, see the following section.
What Could I Claim For A Serious Injury Or Illness?
If you’ve been financially impacted by your injury, you could seek reimbursement for past and future losses under special damages. These might include:
- Loss of earnings: If you were left unable to work either temporarily or permanently, you could seek compensation for the earnings you lost as a result.
- Care costs: You may have needed additional care for yourself or someone dependent on you while you were recovering, such as an elderly parent or children. If so, you could seek reimbursement for the extra cost.
- Medical expenses: These might include medication or physical aids.
However, it’s important that you provide evidence to support your claim. This might be in the form of payslips, receipts or invoices.
If you require any further information on calculating compensation or what you may be able to seek reimbursement for, contact our team.
Kidney Injury Compensation – No Win No Fee Claims
A No Win No Fee agreement could be beneficial when hiring a solicitor to help with your kidney injury claim. By using a solicitor that offers their service on a No Win No Fee basis you avoid upfront costs and costs that may incur during your claim.
Essentially, it means that if your solicitor fails to win your claim, you won’t be asked to pay solicitor fees. Whereas if they succeed, you’ll need to pay a legally capped success fee that will be deducted from your settlement at the end of the claim.
However, your solicitor will make you aware of the fee and how it works before you begin your claim with them.
For more information, get in touch with our team and they can provide further details if you’re unsure of anything.
Contact Us
Although we’ve aimed to cover the information you need to seek kidney injury compensation, we expect you may still have questions.
If so, please don’t hesitate to contact our team. They can provide further clarification on anything you may still be unsure of, such as:
- No Win No Fee agreements
- Whether someone was liable for your accident
- How much compensation you could claim
Alternatively, if you’re ready to submit your claim, an advisor can assess your case. If it has a chance of succeeding, they can connect you with a solicitor from our panel to work on your case.
So, why not get in touch using the details below:
- Telephone- 0161 696 9685
- Fill out your details on the call-back request form
- Speak to an advisor straight away using the live chat feature below
Useful Kidney Injury Compensation Links
For more information on road traffic accidents, see the Reported road casualties Great Britain, annual report: 2020.
See our guide on claiming compensation on behalf of someone who suffered a fatal accident at work.
Our guide on medical misdiagnosis claims could help if you’ve been affected by a substandard level of care in a medical capacity.
If you were involved in a hit and run accident, our guide could help you understand your rights to claim.
Frequently Asked Questions About Kidney Injury Compensation Claims
The following section includes answers to commonly asked questions about kidney injury compensation claims.
Can I withdraw from a claim?
Yes, you have the right to withdraw your claim at any point. However, if a solicitor is representing you, there may be fees involved depending on the type of agreement and how far along your claim is.
What could I claim for medical negligence?
If you have evidence to prove that a medical professional failed to take reasonable steps to prevent you from suffering further or avoidable harm, you may make a medical negligence claim.
What should I do next?
If you’re putting forward a claim, it’s beneficial to build up a bank of evidence to prove negligence occurred. Alternatively, you could speak to one of our advisors to help you understand the next steps you can take.
Thank you for reading our guide on seeking kidney injury compensation. We hope you found it helpful.
Written by AC
Edited IE.