Medical report for personal injury claim in employment / tribunal the MSE way??

SChitmehard

Hi all,

I have just started my employment claim and my solicitor is putting together a "schedule of loss" to put before judicial mediation. She has advised me that I need to get a medical report (evidence) for my employment case to get an idea of personal injury amount to claim. What happened at work affected my mental health but I am NOT in a state where I am unfit for work and could probably hold down a job so I'm not sure this is 100% needed. She has given me the options of:

"The best option is a report from a psychiatrist, which will cost up to £3000. Alternatively, a cheaper  but not as good option would be a report from a medical doctor working (privately in occupational health."

I am currently unemployed and don't have a huge sum of money to throw at this and is an expense I was not expecting. I hoping that it the case can be concluded at the judicial mediation.

Could I tell solicitor not to claim on this element (OR to guess the amount at this early stage)??

Does anyone know any private doctors that offer this type of service at a reasonable cost, maybe some members on the forum have had to do something similar and can give advice on this area?


Thanks

Jillanddy

I am concerned that your solicitor even thinks that a GP will write a report for these purposes. If they don't know that no GP will do that, then what else do they not know? Your GP is neither a specialist in mental health, nor are they medico-legally capable of writing a report for legal purposes. 

You cannot "guess" evidence or claims in a court of law. On the only occasions I have had similar experience on a personal basis, the cost of the medial report was part of the "package" - in one case with legal insurance and the other with the union. I presume your solicitor is being paid for directly by you. In which case you may find this is far from the last unexpected cost - claims are expensive in all quarters. 

Jillanddy

Just to add, what is your employment claim - looking back at your previous threads you only had 4 months continuous service and were then dismissed. So unfair dismissal doesn't seem possible given the information from your previous threads on this matter. Is this actually a personal injury claim that you are making? 

SChitmehard

Jillanddy said:

I am concerned that your solicitor even thinks that a GP will write a report for these purposes. If they don't know that no GP will do that, then what else do they not know? Your GP is neither a specialist in mental health, nor are they medico-legally capable of writing a report for legal purposes. 

You cannot "guess" evidence or claims in a court of law. On the only occasions I have had similar experience on a personal basis, the cost of the medial report was part of the "package" - in one case with legal insurance and the other with the union. I presume your solicitor is being paid for directly by you. In which case you may find this is far from the last unexpected cost - claims are expensive in all quarters. 

 I think by "GP" she means a medical doctor working privately in occupational health.

Jillanddy

SChitmehard said:

Jillanddy said:

I am concerned that your solicitor even thinks that a GP will write a report for these purposes. If they don't know that no GP will do that, then what else do they not know? Your GP is neither a specialist in mental health, nor are they medico-legally capable of writing a report for legal purposes. 

You cannot "guess" evidence or claims in a court of law. On the only occasions I have had similar experience on a personal basis, the cost of the medial report was part of the "package" - in one case with legal insurance and the other with the union. I presume your solicitor is being paid for directly by you. In which case you may find this is far from the last unexpected cost - claims are expensive in all quarters. 

 I think by "GP" she means a medical doctor working privately in occupational health.

Really? So she doesn't know the difference? She needs to say what she means. Not have clients - or random Internet users - guess.

Are you paying for this "legal advice"? 

Jillanddy

Why would an employer of only 4 months,  so having no fear of an unfair dismissal claim,  agree to judicial mediation? They have nothing at all to gain. Whereas by refusing and running up your costs astronomically,  they have everything to gain and you have everything to lose....

SChitmehard

Jillanddy said:

Why would an employer of only 4 months,  so having no fear of an unfair dismissal claim,  agree to judicial mediation? They have nothing at all to gain. Whereas by refusing and running up your costs astronomically,  they have everything to gain and you have everything to lose....

There is a basis for a claim, ex-employer offered to settle before it went legal, I kind of wish I'd taken it. But it's a bit late for that as I've run up some legal costs now and hope I can recoup some at the judicial mediation and settle. Just need to sort out this medical report so she can prepare the schedule of loss to send to the other side and need to do it as cheaply as possible or not at all if I don't need to as I don't think it'll make a huge difference to the amount claimed or settled at. I know the doctor won't write that I am disabled for life and won't work ever again and that's not what I'm claiming for.

Marcon

SChitmehard said:

Hi all,

I have just started my employment claim and my solicitor is putting together a "schedule of loss" to put before judicial mediation. She has advised me that I need to get a medical report (evidence) for my employment case to get an idea of personal injury amount to claim. What happened at work affected my mental health but I am NOT in a state where I am unfit for work and could probably hold down a job so I'm not sure this is 100% needed. She has given me the options of:

"The best option is a report from a psychiatrist, which will cost up to £3000. Alternatively, a cheaper  but not as good option would be a report from a medical doctor working (privately in occupational health."

I am currently unemployed and don't have a huge sum of money to throw at this and is an expense I was not expecting. I hoping that it the case can be concluded at the judicial mediation.

Looking at your previous thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6335001/sham-grievance-what-info-documents-to-request-for-appeal/p1 is this really about personal injury or injured feelings?

You say now that you are 'not unfit for work' and 'could probably hold down a job' so it's rather hard to see what sort of claim you think will result in compensation. 

SChitmehard said:

Could I tell solicitor not to claim on this element (OR to guess the amount at this early stage)??

Does anyone know any private doctors that offer this type of service at a reasonable cost, maybe some members on the forum have had to do something similar and can give advice on this area?

You say the job affected your mental health but there's no mention of physical damage.  If you don't claim on the mental health element, then what's left of your claim? 

k3lvc

SChitmehard said:

Jillanddy said:

Why would an employer of only 4 months,  so having no fear of an unfair dismissal claim,  agree to judicial mediation? They have nothing at all to gain. Whereas by refusing and running up your costs astronomically,  they have everything to gain and you have everything to lose....

There is a basis for a claim, ex-employer offered to settle before it went legal, I kind of wish I'd taken it. But it's a bit late for that as I've run up some legal costs now and hope I can recoup some at the judicial mediation and settle. 

So out of interest what did they offer that you rejected (and did they do it in writing) and what do you expect to get ?

turnitround

It would be very interesting to know exactly what you are claiming for.

SChitmehard

There is a basis for a claim and the ex-employer has accepted it otherwise they would not have offered me money.  They made an offer of a month which I thought was insulting. I am unemployed still and should have done the work myself and not got the solicitor and that way saved a bit of money. But at the time I was a bit stressed and thought I wouldn't be able to do it. Just need to get to the next stage and settle if possible.

Anyway, what I need now is a cheap way to get a medical report so if anyone can help with that I'd be grateful.