Valuing Your Needlestick Injury

Advice and Assistance from Cohen Cramer

Needlestick injury valuation. Although claims vary from individual to individual there are common features that we look for when putting forward claims on behalf of our clients.

What we will claim for your needlestick injury

The actual physical injury involved in a needlestick is often very minimal. The majority of compensation for injury (known as general damages) is for the stress, worry and in extreme cases, psychological disorders resulting from coming into contact with a needle.  The more extreme the reaction to the incident, the higher the level of damages likely to be awarded.

As well as compensation for physical and mental injury, we also look for additional compensation if you have been required to undergo a course of post-exposure prophylactics (PEP).  PEP is a course of medication given when it is suspected that the needle donor may have been a carrier of the HIV virus.

Additional compensation for infection by a blood-borne virus

If in, the rare event, you have contracted a blood-borne virus as a result of the incident the compensation for the impact this will have on your health and day to day living then we will recover additional compensation for you, however, the chances of such are, thankfully, slim and the vast majority of cases are in relation to stress and worry.

Financial losses

We will, in addition to compensation for your mental trauma also seek to recover all and any financial losses you may have sustained as a result of the incident. This can include lost income as well as treatment and or medication costs you may incur.

What is an average needlestick injury valuation?

It is always difficult to advise as to an average payout because we treat all clients as individuals and don’t like to generalise with regards to their injuries. That said it is appreciated that clients like an idea of what they can expect from the claim to see whether it is worth pursuing further.

In most instances, the affected individual will receive the ‘all clear’ within three or six months. During this period they may feel levels of stress and anxiety and as such are entitled to recover compensation. In the absence of any infection or blood-borne virus, we are generally looking for between £1500 and £3000 by way of compensation plus any financial losses that may have arisen as a result of the incident.

The actual level of compensation will be determined by the extent of your injury as set out in the medical report we will obtain in support of your claim.

Start your claim today

To see how much your claim could be worth get in touch with us today: