Making A Serious Injury Claim For Severe PTSD

According to the NHS, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that is caused by events that are frightening, distressing or stressful. In some cases, you may be entitled to begin a serious injury claim for severe PTSD if you’ve been involved in a road traffic accident, an accident at work or public place accident.

claim for severe PTSD

Making A Serious Injury Claim For Severe PTSD

This guide will discuss the eligibility criteria you’ll need to meet in order to have valid grounds to seek compensation, the evidence you can gather to strengthen your case, and how compensation for serious injury claims is calculated.

Additionally, we look at the duty of care different parties owe in different situations, including employers at work, occupiers in a public place, and road users on the road. You will also find examples of how an accident could occur in one of these places if this duty is breached.

Later in our guide, we’ll also provide a figurative case study to show how PSTD personal injury claims work and how a No Win No Fee serious injury solicitor could help you seek compensation.

If you would like our team to check the validity of your PTSD compensation claim as part of a free initial consultation, you can:

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Eligibility Criteria When Making A Serious Injury Claim For Severe PTSD

If you wish to make a personal injury claim for severe PTSD, you must demonstrate negligence. In tort law, this means:

  • A third party owed you a duty of care.
  • The third party breached the duty of care they owed you.
  • You experienced a physical and/or psychological injury as a result.

It’s possible to claim for PTSD by itself, or alongside a physical injury, provided you meet the eligibility criteria above.

Read on to learn more about the duty of care certain third parties owe, and how they could breach this duty leading to you sustaining psychological harm.

Road Traffic Accidents

The Road Traffic Act 1988 and Highway Code must be followed in order for road users to uphold their duty of care to conduct themselves in a way so as to prevent injury or damage to one another.

A failure to uphold this duty could lead to an accident in which you sustain harm. For example:

  • You may have been involved in a serious car accident after another driver crashed into the passenger side of your vehicle due to driving through a junction without first checking it was safe to do so. As a result, you may have witnessed the passenger suffer fatal injuries causing you to experience severe PTSD.

Accidents In A Public Place

While you’re using a public space for its intended purpose, such as shops, libraries and leisure centres, the occupier owes you a duty of care under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. They must take steps to ensure your reasonable safety. If they failed to do so, it could lead to an accident in a public place. For example:

  • Whilst in a shopping centre, you may have sustained a traumatic amputation after using a faulty escalator that was reported but not fixed in a reasonable time frame. As a result of the life-changing physical injury, you are also affected mentally.

Accidents At Work

You are owed a duty of care by your employer whilst you are working as per the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It states employers need to take reasonable and practicable steps to prevent you from becoming harmed at work. Failure to do so could lead to a serious accident at work. For example:

  • Your employer failed to ensure workplace machinery was safe and fit for purpose. As a result, your colleague sustains fatal crush injuries as a result of a defective machine. Furthermore, witnessing the accident causes you to develop severe PTSD.

For more information on making a claim for severe PTSD, you can call our team on the number above. They can assess your specific circumstances and determine whether you’re eligible to seek compensation.

Case Study: £600,000 PTSD Compensation Payout

The following case study is figurative and has only been included for the purpose of illustrating the serious injury claims process.

Mr. Willis was injured in a road traffic accident after a head-on collision on a motorway because the other driver went the wrong way down a slip road. As a result, Mr. Willis sustained a serious traumatic amputation of his arm. The severity of his accident and the life-changing nature of his injuries meant he developed severe PTSD. 

Mr. Willis was unable to return to work for an extended period of time, his relationships were affected, and he required some domestic help. Additionally, he needed to attend counselling to help him deal with his psychological injury.

After seeking legal advice, Mr. Willis decided to claim for severe PTSD with the help of a specialist serious injury solicitor. His solicitor assisted him in gathering evidence to strengthen his case, including dashcam footage, pictures of his injuries, witness statements, and copies of his medical records. Additionally, an independent medical assessment was arranged for him to attend which produced an in-depth report of his injuries and how they were likely to affect him in the future.

Mr. Willis’ claim succeeded and he was awarded a payout of £600,000 which accounted for the way his injuries had affected his life and the financial losses he incurred as a result.

Learn more about the steps you could take to make a serious injury claim for PTSD either by itself, or alongside a physical injury.

PTSD Compensation Payouts – What Could You Receive?

If you make a successful serious injury claim, you could be awarded up to two heads of loss:

  • General damages: Compensating for the pain and suffering of your injuries, physical, psychological, or both.
  • Special damages: Compensating for the financial losses incurred due to your injuries. This could include therapy costs, loss of earnings from time taken off work, and the cost of care at home. Evidence, such as receipts, invoices, and payslips, can help prove these losses so keep hold of any documentation.

In order to calculate the value of general damages, your independent medical report and the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) can be referred to. The JCG lists a set of guideline valuation brackets for different physical and psychological injuries.

Compensation Table

The amounts in the table are taken from the JCG. However, these amounts are not guaranteed and should be used as guidance only.

Type Of InjuryLevel Of SeverityCompensation Brackets - GuidelinesFurther Details
Multiple InjuriesSeriousUp to £1,000,000 +Compensation can be awarded for several serious injuries, including a physical and psychological injury, as well as for financial losses incurred as a result.
Brain Very Severe£282,010 to £403,990Full-time nursing care is needed due to the person showing little or no evidence of having a meaningful response to their environment.
ParalysisTetraplegia £324,600 to £403,990Upper and lower body paralysis.
Amputation of ArmsLoss of One Arm (i)Not less than £137,160One arm amputated at the shoulder.
PTSDSevere£59,860 to £100,670Where the claimant has been diagnosed with PTSD that affects all aspects of their life. A return to work will not be possible and they will not be able to function at pre-trauma levels.
Moderately Severe£23,150 to £59,860The effects of PTSD will be similar to above in this settlement bracket. However, with professional treatment, there will be some recovery and a better prognosis.
Special DamagesLoss of EarningsUp to £100,000 and aboveCompensation to reimburse any lost income incurred due to time taken off work to recover from the injuries.

Get in touch with our helpful team of advisors to learn more about calculating compensation for a successful claim for severe PTSD.

What Evidence Could Help You Make A Claim For Severe PTSD?

When claiming compensation for PTSD, you need to provide evidence that the duty of care owed to you by a third party, was breached and you experienced harm as a result. For example, you could collect:

  • A diary of how the PSTD has affected you.
  • Photographs taken at the accident scene.
  • Contact details for anybody who witnessed your accident.
  • CCTV footage or dashcam recordings showing the accident.
  • A copy of your medical records.

If you have a valid claim and one of the solicitors on our panel offers to work for you, part of their service can include collecting evidence to support your claim.

Please call the number above if you’d like our team to review your claim for severe PTSD on a no-obligation basis. If they find your case is eligible, they could connect you with a solicitor from our panel who has experience handling serious injury claims.

Claim For Severe PTSD Using No Win No Fee Solicitors

When you instruct a serious injury solicitor from our panel to represent you, they can provide a No Win No Fee service by offering a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). The terms of a CFA typically mean that:

  • You won’t be asked to pay for your solicitor’s services at the start of the claims process.
  • Nor will you pay your solicitor for their work as the claim progresses or if it’s lost.
  • If you have a successful claim for severe PTSD, you will receive compensation. Your solicitor will deduct a success fee from your compensation as a percentage. The percentage they can take does have a legal cap, however, ensuring you keep the majority of your settlement.

For further information on working with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel and how they could help you seek PTSD compensation, please contact an advisor using the contact details below:

Learn More About Claiming Serious Injury Compensation

Here are a few more of our guides that may be helpful:

Additionally, here are some external resources:

If you need any further information about making a claim for severe PTSD, please feel free to get in touch.