Whiplash Claims – A real pain in the neck?
Last year, in a rather surprising turn of events, the UK Government and the large Insurance Companies, announced they had finally had enough of people making false whiplash claims. They believed it was time for the “compensation culture” to stop. The Ministry of Justice intended to raise the small claims limit to £5,000 (thereby doing away with Solicitors recovering their costs) and compensation for low value whiplash claims would be banned (the emphasis being placed on rehabilitation rather than reward).
Whilst the Claimant Solicitors have gone to great lengths in their adverts, to express their desire to seek justice for the unfortunate people who suffered a rear end shunt, many feel this is just
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What they do resent, is the growing industry of “rear- end shunters”. These people deliberately force unsuspecting drivers to plough into the back of them, simply to recover thousands of pounds in compensation, thereby forcing everyone’s car insurance payments up. (Just to add some balance, most drivers also resent the large insurance companies not passing on reductions when they should do!)
The trouble with a whiplash injury is it is very difficult to identify. If someone says they have a pain in the neck and back how can a Doctor be sure it is true? A clean break of a bone or cut through the skin is easy to identify but what about a soft tissue injury deep inside the body?
Doctors and pain management experts are very reliant upon the patient being truthful about the level of pain they are suffering. This can often be heightened whilst litigation is ongoing.
So what is a whiplash injury?
Usually this type of injury occurs when, the head, without warning, is thrown forwards and then backwards or to the side, causing injury to the neck and back. To put it technically, the spine suffers a hyperextension and hyperflexion injury. The soft tissues in the neck can often be damaged as they are suddenly stretched and