Son had an accident

[Richmond212]

Hi. Looking for advice please. My 15 year old son was at football training 4 weeks ago and broke his leg . Open fractures in 2 places. Then he developed compartment syndrome the day after they fixed the bones with plates, rods and screws . 3 operations later and still in hospital. I was asked if I am putting a personal injury claim for him. I didn't even know I could do this? Family are telling me not too. But others are saying I should. I am going to ask for advice from solicitors but it's a life changing injury he's been through and his leg is a mess I am thinking it would be a big help for him when he turns 18. Anyone else think I should go ahead?

OP are you living in England as most of the posters replying have assumed this? If so, make an appt. with a personal injuries solicitor.

If you lived in Ireland for instance, I’d advise you to contact the PIAB.ie for advice as you can claim for an injury regardless of whether there’s any fault attached. The amounts awarded for compensation are generally far higher in Ireland than in England and would run into thousands.

I understand the injury was devastating but there has to be some element of fault to sue

Agree you might have critical illness cover or accident cover of your own though?

Sorry about your son. However, it's not appropriate or considerate to have posted here. Ask for the thread to be moved to. Legal Matters maybe.

This still isn’t a life limiting illness, and it’s in very bad taste for you to use this topic to discuss claiming compensation for a broken leg your son got from playing a contact sport.

Now this is a good reply of some knowledgeable advice. I'm getting stick on here now so I'm going to delete post but thanks for commenting you've been helpful

What an awful thing to happen I’m so sorry for your son. See a proper solicitor. X

Agreed. There’s a huge difference between life limiting and life changing.

You’re getting stuck because you posted this in a topic for life limiting illness. What did you expect the replies to be?

See a solicitor as this is why clubs take out insurance.

Both really fucking awful though. She's not posting about a papercut.

@Richmond212 sorry but for the sake of your son I would say you really need to make a claim/ on top of the fact that he has undergone quite a few operations, i am pretty sure he will need a few more in the future. it is doubtful if he will ever be able to play football again. Also, all this time in hospital is putting him behind with his schoolwork and depending what he was hoping to do, his career plans might need to be drastically changed. Especially if he is still in danger of losing his leg!

I'll be honest, the title of this topic is a little confusing.

I have had a life changing injury and subsequently serious illness.

The term life limiting does have at least two possible meanings and one is consistent with life changing injury.

Goodness me, why are all these posters getting in such a tiz telling you there's no claim? Newsflash, you are not the people who will decide this. I have no legal expertise but surely insurance doesn't exist only to deal with incidents where there is someone to blame. It sounds like he has some severe injuries and I think you should definitely explore the option further. I hope your son is coping ok with all of this.

I may be wrong but claiming on insurance doesn't have to mean suing for negligence does it? Wouldn't it just be a straight claim due to the potential seriousness of the injury and the time and money it could take for rehab?

You're best to contact Irwin Mitchell or an appropriate solicitor that deals with this. They will go through an assessment to see if this is something that compensation could be awarded for or not. There's no harm in seeing what your options are, you don't have to go ahead with anything. BTW, I'm absolutely not someone who is claim-happy, but when someone suffers a serious injury then I do think it's something that should be considered.

If he has permanent nerve damage then he has a long road ahead of him. Sorry.

You absolutely should claim on the club insurance if they have it, you and he are going to need to money for rehab.

I'm sorry this happened OP. It sounds like you're DS has a hard road ahead.

I agree you should report your post to MNHQ and ask them to move it to legal where you will get the appropriate advice.

Your DS may not have a terminal illness, but you deserve compassion and I hope insurance turns out to be an option for you to claim on.

Empathy seems to be in short supply this evening....

Here's a good summary of the position (as I know people won't take my word for it). To claim against the club op would need to prove fault.

https://www.first4lawyers.com/personal-injury/sports-injuries/football-injury-claims/#:~:text=To%20make%20a%20football%20injury,Medical%20reports%20detailing%20your%20injuries

Op may have her own policies which she could claim on however (eg critical illness /accident cover)

It was an accident, you know there is a risk of things like this happening in a competitive sport, most football teams are just run by volunteers do no it wouldn't be good to claim compo.

@Richmond212 i know someone who had had a similar injury but they were actually playing a match. Was a accident and they received money through the clubs insurance.
i would ask the club for details for making a claim.
The person in question did actually manage to return to play football, although there leg is very scarred and was a very long road back.
wishing your boy all the best.

Pointless.

if the club has insurance it’s there for a purpose . So ask for a copy and write down exactly what happened immediately whilst it’s fresh in your mind .

were there any extenuating circumstances such as state of the pitch ?

Get this post moved to legal. Working with lawyers previously find one who’s a specialist as the club should have insurance which should cover this.

Maybe he should sue you for signing him up to football?

Honestly have you nothing better to do with your time? How pathetic..

Life-changing isn't the same as life-limiting. Life-limiting is an IMO unhelpful euphemism used by neurotypical people because they don't like the phrase "terminal illness". Bluntly, this board (Life-limiting illness) is for people who have an illness that will kill them, and for their carers and families. It's really not an appropriate place to discuss survivable injuries, no matter how badly they might impact on a future career.