Personal injury suffered by a person is generally caused by some accident. The cost of such injury may be physical, psychological or both. Personal injury covers a very large ground of accidents. It may be on road by vehicular traffic, accidents at workplace, accidents at home by say slipping in the bathroom or any fall, injury from getting assaulted on the road, accident while handling equipments either at home or outside, etc.
Apart from these common types of accidents, personal injury can also be caused due to negligence in medical treatment including dental treatment, injury on account of using some product having inherent deficiency, accident while on vacation or official tour, etc. Then there are specialized types going by the name industrial diseases that cause personal injury. Most of the industrial diseases are actually occupational diseases. The personal injury suffered is caused by the work that the affected person does as occupation. Most common among these industrial diseases are pulmonary or chest diseases like bronchitis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), silicosis, asbestosis, emphysema, etc.
There are other types of industrial diseases also causing personal injury like dermatitis, continuous stress and strain due to the anxieties and tensions from the job, hearing impairment and deafness on account of high noise in the workplace like in a factory situation, impairment of any body part due to handling of heavy machinery or working under difficult and stressful conditions, etc.
Personal injury victims or parties can get the benefit of financial compensation from the person or body that was instrumental in causing such personal injury. The one who has caused the accident by negligence or some willful action is supposed to pay compensation to the party injured or victimized. In USA carrying it out is easier said than done as the process of claiming compensation by a personal injury victim is very complicated. There are attorneys in USA who are ready to fight it out in the court of law on behalf of the parties to personal injury. The victim is served by such lawyers on contingent basis by not claiming their professional fees till settlement of the case at the court. However the legal systems in USA for such cases of compensation claims by people for personal injury still leave a lot of room for further reforms to effectively benefit the victims.
In UK personal injury court cases invite law of limitation. There a personal injury victim must initiate court proceedings within 3 years from the date of the accident to claim compensation beyond which period no claim for compensation can be brought to court by the claimant. Exception is allowed only in case of personal injury victims of age below 18 (when the accident took place) who can start court cases claiming compensation up to the period of attaining 21 years of age. In USA there is now hardly any provision for legal aids for personal injury victims to fight out the court cases which are mostly run on contingent basis by such victim’s attorneys.
Personal injury victims are nowadays provided with the options of financial compensation or settlement in a structured manner. The scheme is designed in a way to ensure a protected financial future for the person long after the actual settlement. The plan contains benefits like tax concession. Such financial planning for compensation to personal injury victims if executed properly goes a long way in looking after the future needs of the victim. The rehabilitation and future security of a person disabled or incapacitated due to personal injury is considered an ethical responsibility of the state and society.
