personal injury trouble

kindeke

Whiplash - the other side of the story

Hi, I am new to this forum, and have a question which I would like to hear some opinions on :

I was involved in an RTA the end of september 2009. It was a rear end collision on my way to work. I had tro make an emergency stop for cars suddenly braking in front of me, and the driver behind me (Beamer, obviously), was far to close and tried to swerve, but bounced off the steel intel in my bumper (I drive a Vectra C, teh other vehicle was a BMW 318).
The collission occured between 40 and 50 miles per hour, which toalled the BMW, and very nearly wrote off my car as well.

I immediately felt a strain in my neck and shoulders when I got out the car, was examined locally by a passing ambulance crew, and visited the hospital straight after.
I was not examined, given a leaflet on whiplash and a box of ibuprofen.

My sollicitors in this matter are Minster Law, appointed by the AA.
I recoved a phone call from Esure (the fault party) the next day saying they admitted full liability fro the accident, and offered me to have my case processed by their own sollicitor.
I refused this, as I don;t think the defendant and the plaintiff should be represented by the same firm, and I was told that "it will take much longer than that, and you will have a clain against your name for as long as it is outstanding".
I don't respond particularly well to threats, and found this a little rude to be fair.

Anyway, we are now almost two years later.
To make a long story short, I was diagnosed with severe whiplash and sent on my merry way to the physio.
This stopped after 3 weeks, and I was told that I would have to see a controlling physician before further treatment, but I was slightly suprised when the "doctor" never actually got up from his chair, did not examine me, but rahter ticked boxes on his computer.

He said that it would have to be reviewed in 3 months. Que for my sollicitor to go silent for a number of weeks, no reply to email, no callback, etc.
About 6 months later I received another marching order for a hospital in the middle of nowhere, and was seen by another mobile doctors specialist. He did actually get up ands examined me,
and stipulated that my neck injury was not expected to heal fully within 18 months (of the crash)
Hhe also suspected a problem with my righ hand due to the force exerted on the steering wheel at the time of the crash.
I visited a specialist for this, many many months later, after insisting with my sollicitor.
The nerve conduction test ruled out carpal tunnel syndrome, and clearly showed loss of conduction to my right index and middle fingers (they are numb on the inside). As it was not carpal tunnel, an MRI was ordered to take a closer look. They did this with my arm in traction in front of me, which had me in agony (neck injury remember) for about an hour, results : inconclusive

So, another letter/report from the specialist received, saying, we will have to open up the hand in surgery to take a good look and determine the injury, and the first report stated that the damage was permanent.
I have heard nothing, zilch, nada, on my hand since, say, last november.

My neck and shoulders, as determined by a specialist at Wringtington pain management, suffer from a severe inflammation across my entire trapezoid muscle group, which has my in agony with muscle spasms across that whole region, pressure from the base of my skull to inbetween the shoulder blades, and a general foul mood because of the above.
I have had to give up a promising tasty golf handicap as I simply cannot swing anything over a mid iron without knocking myself int he sofa with precription drugs for a week, cannot maintain reasonab le physical activity (gardening, jogging, ironing, cleaning, driving etc, etc) for very long without the same results, and am generally in a foul mood because I am in pain, constantly.

The reason for my posting here (sorry for the longwinded background story) is that I don;t seem to get anywhere with my sollicitors.
The NHS specialist AND controlling physician recommended deep massage - you can't have that, acupun!!!!ure - arrange it yourself, they''ll never agree, and so on and so on.

They do not respond to emails still, and I genuinely don't know if tehy are actually doing something for me.

I don't know what to do, is it Minster Law that is dragging heir heels and simply not chasing up anything, or is the other insuranc nce simply ignoring the recommendations??

I feel that, had I been treated privately like I should have been entitled to, in timely fashion and adequately, I would not still suffer from these injuries, who have made a very significant impact on my life, and continue to do so, god knows for how long as I am not a pain management patient and we all know how the NHS treats us (8 months for an appointment to see a staff nurse, and another 4 to 5 months wait fore the injections that offer me SOME quality of life)

Hs anyone had similar experiences, and how have you dealt with it?
I have previously complained to my sollicitor that I was not happy with my claim being handled by someone diffferent every few months, not getting back to me by phone or email, etc, but they don;t appear to care.

Can I ask them for their records to see if they are actually doing something for me, or are waiting it out?

Not only is the physical pain a tad unwelcome, the stress of the whole matter is getting to me in worse ways than that.

Any comments/advice would be well received, but please, if you are only going to rant at me for putting in a claim for an injury that has debilitated me severely for almost two years, with no end in sight, refrain from such. There are after all genuine cases as well.

CHC

dmg24

My advice - stop chasing money and focus on getting well. The NHS will do all they can for you, but if you are swapping between them and private it is difficult for anyone to know what is going on.

CouponWoman

First of all make a complaint in writing. Send it recorded delivery and address it to the Managing partner. Check out the name of the partner by looking on there website and mark it private and confidential. Complain strongly about the fact they have failed to respond to your messages.

Mention how hard it has been to get information and that you expect a full and detailed update on your claim within 7 days.

You can also, if you really believe that they have mishandled your claim, complain to The Law Society. No solicitor would be happy about this, its quite a serious thing to do.

You can, in some circumstances, transfer your file to another solicitor. To do this you would need to approach a different solicitor and explain your problems and ask if they would be agreeable to take over the claim. If the did agree to your request, then they would ask you to sign a release form and they would get your complete file from the original solicitor. The new solicitor would sign a lien on costs to protect the first solicitors outlay to date.

It is extremely unlikely that it would be possible for you to see your file.

With cases like this, where the doctor who prepared the medical report recommends treatment, it would be normal to have private treatment to help aid your recovery.

Your solicitor would or should, obtain quotes for the treatment and put it to the 3rd party solicitors and ask them to pay. They would check with the 3rd party insurers who would normally cough up. It actually saves money getting private treatment rather than dragging a claim on for years.

Good luck with your claim

Longman2

Hi Kindeke,

I read with great interest your account of recent dealings with Minster Law in your current PI claim.

I have posted my experience in a separate thread, to further highlight the abysmal service that this company provides, and can identify with your problems regarding Minster Law. Potential clients should be warned about this firm.

I'd be very interested to hear how you have progressed with this, so perhaps you could read my account and reply accordingly. Although I sympathise with you, I feel encouraged to find that it's not just me that's suffering at the hands of these cowboys, and it has spurred me on to take them to task.

[Deleted User]

odd,you join 3 years ago then only post on a thread 3 months old?

Longman2

So what's your point exactly?

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Use the money you would have spent on green fees to get the acupuncture done yourself and claim back the cost afterwards.

saving_pennies

Hi,

I can understand your frustration. I had a car accident two years ago and am still recovering. A solictor is involved however it seems to be a very slow process. I know some people think those that go for compensation are chasing money and not focusing on recovering - I don't think this, I am focusing on recovering and it sounds like you are too, however we are entitled to compensation and going via a solictor to get compensation does not stop us focusing on recovering physically. The solictor should also be getting you treatment recommended by doctors.

3 weeks of physio sounds very short time. After a car accident I had months of physio, and the physio used acupuncture a few times. Maybe go back to your solictor to request more. Or, maybe your GP can refer you for physio?

At my GP surgery, one of the GP does acupuncture, maybe you can ask if this is available via your GP.

Do you by any chance have HSA or simply health as it is called now. This is a scheme where you can claim back costs of some treatments.

Another place to get massages/acupuncture free or heavily reduced is in local colleges.

I recently had a call centre phone me to say they wanted to get me compensation. When I explained I had a solictor they wanted to take the case on and could get compensation within 12 weeks and it did seem a relatively easy process. However, as the delay with my solictor is because we are waiting for medical reports from specialists I am not sure changing solictors would speed this up. I guess you have nothing to lose by called a couple solictors to explain the situaton and see if they can help.

Good luck!

ramsas

dmg24 wrote: »

My advice - stop chasing money and focus on getting well. The NHS will do all they can for you, but if you are swapping between them and private it is difficult for anyone to know what is going on.

If you cannot be constructive then why say anything at all? you seem to enjoy being abrasive and probably do so to make up for something lacking in your life...who the hell are you to tell the poster to stop chasing money?I suppose if you get involved in an accident and suffer injury that you will be the one that says no thankyou i dont want paying any compensation for my injuries!!do me a favour of course you will..so wind your neck in and refrain from being so authoritarian with people..why is it a problem if being treated between NHS and private? their is no conflict at all and it is common practice to flit between the two both in seeking treatment and obtaining medical reports[given you profess to have been in the medical field as a secretary i would have thought you would be aware of this] but then again your post was,nt to offer any advice was it? it was simply to be nasty to the poster.How sad,if you cant offer advice in a friendly manner then just be quite.

Longman2

Hear, hear Ramsas !!

It seems that pretty much every forum is plagued by a minority of individuals that make it their business to don the mantle of 'forum police' and have an opinion on everything. It might come as some surprise to the likes of dmg24 (and Woodbine), that most people don't have the time to spend every waking hour combing the forum and making thousands of posts and nasty, inane comments. It's not only unhelpful but downright offensive to cast aspersions on people who are genuinely seeking help or offering support.

Sadly this kind of hostile behaviour prevents the inexperienced, and sometimes desperate, from getting the help that the forum was designed to offer, for fear of being judged and accused by these small-minded, nasty individuals. Nobody wants your input. If you can't be helpful butt out..............................and get a life !!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

dmg24 wrote: »

My advice - stop chasing money and focus on getting well. The NHS will do all they can for you, but if you are swapping between them and private it is difficult for anyone to know what is going on.

On reading the OP carefully, it would appear that he/she is actually more concerned at trying to get private treatment for the injuries in the absence of a NHS able or willing to provide intensive therapy.

Not so much chasing money as chasing an improvement in health and mobility, funded by the Insurers of the party responsible/liable for his injury, which he/she is entitled to do.

Personally, whilst working in the NHS, I didn't have any trouble grasping the concept that someone would undergo NHS treatment where possible and private treatment where the NHS was letting them down. It's not hard to put copy documentation in notes, and it's five minutes' work to write up a brief summary of the patient's situation and keep it at the front.

No real difference in work than keeping records of different medical conditions, referrals, treatments and separate file systems for A&E attendances, the Eye Unit, Maternity Notes or items from partner hospitals who they have been referred onto, either, and anyone in the NHS who claims that they can't manage to understand a patient's medical history (which by their very nature, usually involved bringing together documentation from different disciplines, clinics, treatments and hospitals/community locations) frankly shouldn't be working in a position affecting patient care.