At Moore Barlow, we currently act for a man in his early 20s who sustained a severe traumatic brain injury when a driver pulled out into his path whilst he was riding his motorbike on his way to work. As his personal injury claim is ongoing, he wishes to remain anonymous and for the purpose of this case study, he shall be referred to as M.
We were instructed to act on M’s behalf by his family whilst he was an inpatient at St George’s Hospital, Tooting. At the time, M did not have the capacity to instruct us himself and therefore, his mother took on the role of his Litigation Friend. M had sustained a number of injuries including a subarachnoid haemorrhage, multiple fractured vertebrae, broken right leg, fractured left foot and a punctured lung, the most serious being his brain injury. His inpatient treatment included physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and neuropsychology.
M was kept in hospital for 11 weeks before he was discharged home to his parents’ house where they took on the role of his care team. While community rehabilitation was being arranged through the NHS, as we were instructed at a very early stage, we were able to agree with the Defendant Insurers the appointment of a Case Manager with a specialism in brain injury. Since M’s discharge, the Case Manager has been coordinating his ongoing rehabilitation and this has included the appointment of a neuropsychologist, speech and language therapist, neuro occupational therapist and neuro physiotherapy. The Defendant’s Insurers have been funding his ongoing treatment.
It is only just over a year since M’s accident and his recovery is ongoing and his treating team are incredibly focused on improving his ongoing issues. At a recent meeting with his treating neuropsychiatrist, it was discussed that M would benefit from a further course or inpatient treatment and he was assessed by the Oliver Zangwill Centre where he hopes to receive some further intensive rehabilitation. The Oliver Zangwill Centre is based in Ely and it is a unit which provides Neurorehabilitation to adults with a brain injury.
M’s ultimate goals are to be able to live independently and return to work and he hopes that the ongoing rehabilitation can help him achieve these goals or if these goals are not attainable, to get as close to them as possible. As these goals are important to M, we have made sure that the team around him has the expertise to help him and most importantly, that he feels comfortable engaging with that team. The communication between M, his family, the Case Manager and the rest of the treating team, is so important as they act as a support network on our client’s road to recovery.
Tim Kirfield, Associate, Moore Barlow LLP comments:
As personal injury solicitors, we strive to get the best outcome for our clients and whilst fundamentally we are instructed to achieve compensation, at Moore Barlow, we put our client’s rehabilitational needs at the front of what we do to help them maximise their recovery from catastrophic injury. In the case of M, we have identified his goals and we will ensure he has the right people around him to achieve them, if possible.
If you have any questions about the above or require any further information, please contact the one of the team on 01483 543210.
