Why can I not make a claim for a hospital patient with pressure sores through the Injuries Board?
Eoin P. Campbell, LL.B., Solicitor
Editor in Chief
The reason that you cannot make a claim for a hospital patient with pressure sores through the Injuries Board is that claims for inadequate nursing care in hospital are regarded as cases of medical negligence, and the Injuries Board has no remit (under the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003) to assess medical negligence claims.
Even though it may appear obvious that negligence has occurred, inasmuch as you would not have developed pressure sores had you received adequate nursing care, a claim for a hospital patient with pressure sores has to identify how an injury was allowed to occur as well as the who was responsible for breaching the hospital´s ‘duty of care’.
It may even be the case that you yourself played a role in the development of pressure sores by not communicating your injury to the nursing staff that were available, if which case your own contributory negligence would become a factor in calculating how much compensation for pressure sores in hospital you might be entitled to receive.
The way to proceed with claims for inadequate nursing care in hospital is to speak with your solicitor and explain the circumstances of your injury and the impact it had on your quality of life. Your solicitor will ask you about the checks that were made by nursing staff to prevent the development of pressure sores and the treatment you received after they had been identified.
If it is likely that you have a claim for a hospital patient with bed sores that is worth your while to pursue, your solicitor will obtain notes about your care from the hospital and have them reviewed by an independent expert to confirm your entitlement to compensation for pressure sores in hospital. Thereafter, should you wish to proceed with a claim, the process for making claims for inadequate nursing care in hospital is quite straightforward and usually handled by your solicitor on your behalf.
As establishing negligence to support a claim for a hospital patient with pressure sores is much simpler when the injury has only recently occurred, you are advised to discuss the exact circumstances of your pressure sore injury in hospital with an experienced solicitor at the first practical moment. You should find that using the services of a solicitor is less daunting than you may believe and certainly more personal than the Injuries Board process. Indeed, you will possibly receive more compensation for pressure sores in hospital because of the one-to-one attention of a solicitor than if the Injuries Board were allowed to assess your claim for a hospital patient with pressure sores.