Issue 28
September 2007

S.J. Edney solicitors were established in 1996 and are a niche Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury Practice. Seamus Edney is a member of the Action against Victims of Medical Accidents Solicitors Panel, the Law Society’s Clinical Negligence Panel and the Law Society’s Personal Injury Panel. The firm holds a Legal Aid Franchise in Clinical Negligence.

As a firm we are committed to acting for victims of accidents and Seamus Edney has 20 years experience of Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury work.

 

CHILDREN AND A & E

As a specialist personal injury practice, we often give advice to parents of children who have been involved in accidents, many of whom have suffered serious injuries.

These accidents can vary from children (often toddlers) who suffer burns after accidentally knocking over a hot cup of tea or coffee to children who fall over whilst cycling or riding a skateboard due to a defect in the road or pavement.  Other children are involved in road accidents, are victims of sub-standard care at hospital and are victims of “dog attacks”.    

The Office for National Statistics have recently produced some interesting figures for children who have to attend the A & E department which we produce below:-

 

1m	under-15s go to A & E every year after accidents in the home
67,000	children’s accidents occur in the kitchen each year
58,000	children’s accidents happen on the stairs a year
44%	of all children’s accidents involve falls
10	children die every year as a result of falls from windows, balconies and stairs
2,500	children attend A & E each year as a result of bath-water scalding

 

As can be seen from these stats, most accidents happen at home. To keep your child out of the A & E department may we suggest that parents/guardians:-

DO…

• Check friends and families houses for hazards before visiting; many aren’t child-proofed, and most incidents of bleach or tablet-swallowing occur when you are visiting friends and relatives

• Install thermostatic taps, available from B&Q and Homebase, in your bathroom to reduce the chance of burns

• Check windows. Locks that limit how much they can be opened are a good idea

• Check you have asthma inhaler refills

DON’T…

• Leave hot tea or coffee unattended near children, or hold it near them

• Ever drive them anywhere without the correct car seat and seat belt

• Leave stairs un-gated if you have a toddler

• Let them get on a bike without a helmet

• Leave children in the kitchen unsupervised when you are cooking

• Leave them in the room alone with any dog – in our experience even docile family pets can sometimes turn on a child

CHILDREN AND PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS

Carrying on the theme of children and personal injury claims, as our readers will know there is no automatic right to compensation in this country if a person, including a child, has been injured. An accident victim is only entitled to be compensated if their accident was caused by somebody else’s negligence or fault. The good news however is that the Courts expect people who come into contact with children to make more allowances for them – they should not be treated as adults.

During recent months, we have been able to recover damages for 3 children involved in quite different accidents:-

• a teenage boy whose bike collapsed whilst he was cycling on it. Tests on the bike showed that it had been assembled incorrectly by its manufacturer and this was the cause of his accident

• another child was playing on some wasteland (which had not been closed off to the public) when he injured his hand crushed under a collapsing wall

• a young toddler who was travelling as a rear seat passenger in his mother’s car (wearing a seatbelt) was involved in a collision with another vehicle.

All three children required hospital treatment but we are glad to report that they have all fully recovered from their injuries.

MEDICAL ERRORS IN THE NHS

Almost 25,000 hospital patients were the victims of medical errors in 2006, leading to death and serious injury in some cases.

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA), which revealed the figures, has issued new guidelines on the importance of wristbands after more than 2,900 errors were attributed to mistaken identity.

Hospitals in England and Wales use a variety of bands, with colours or codes; some use handwritten tags.  But the NPSA said that the bands should be standardised to reduce errors in the NHS, which are thought to be under-reported.  The agency has received reports of patients being placed in the wrong wards and given the wrong medication and blood.  Some of these mistakes could have been fatal, the watchdog said.

Up to 34,000 patients are estimated to die every year as a result of avoidable medical errors.  The true scale is unknown because NHS staff are reluctant to report mistakes and near-misses.  The National Audit Office has stated that estimates of death as a result of patient safety incidents range from 840 to 34,000 a year.

The errors include patients being given the wrong surgery, medication or tests with potentially life-threatening consequences.  41,000 medication errors had been recorded between July 2005 and 2006, causing 36 deaths.  A further 2,000 patients suffered “moderate or severe harm”. 

In 2005 the National Audit Office reported that nearly a million errors or safety lapses had occurred in the previous year, causing 2,000 deaths.  Half the incidents could have been avoided if staff had learnt from past mistakes, the auditor said.                  

 

COMPENSATION CULTURE

It has been reported by the press recently that some Leisure Centres had now stopped providing arm bands and rubber rings because of the danger of people catching germs while blowing them up and the fear that this may lead to them being sued. 

Also the cost of claims against schools has hit the headlines again with recent reports stating that £2m was paid out to pupils in compensation last year.  We are told that teachers now live in fear of litigation, from repercussions of reprimanding a child to their liability in relation to school trips.  Indeed, to avoid being sued, some schools are adopting ludicrous risk adverse practices. 

Apparently some schools are cutting down all the trees in their grounds and one school has made its pupils wear safety goggles to play conkers.  The traditional school trip appears to be under threat for fear of litigation.

As a personal injury practice, we are dismayed by these articles.  The Health & Safety Police have truly gone mad!  In our experience there is no compensation culture in this country.  Alarmist newspaper headlines will do nothing to alleviate teachers (or Leisure Centre Managers) fears of litigation.

What we would like to see is a serious debate in the press to highlight the difference between an accident and an accident caused by someone else’s negligence or fault.  The majority of accidents can easily be avoided by a proper risk assessment being made prior to that particular task and steps then being taken to either avoid or minimise the risk of injury occurring.  Sensible assessment and management of risks would be a very strong defence to any personal injury claim. 

School trips and giving children armbands at leisure centres should be encouraged.  With sensible precautions, the risk of any injury is very small.

 

Top of Page

This newsletter was produced by S J Edney, solicitors at:
Alexander House, 19 Fleming Way, Swindon, Wiltshire. SN1 2NG
e-mail office@sjedney.co.uk Telephone 01793 600721