When to File Whiplash Claims
Whiplash claims may be filed when a whiplash injury is incurred during a car accident. A whiplash injury occurs when the head is rapidly drawn backward by a sudden force or impact, then forward by inertia or gravity. This causes a snap similar to the cracking of a whip, and results in the head being thrown out of its proper anatomical position. In severe cases, a whiplash victim cannot tilt his or her head all the way back until the neck is realigned by an osteopath or a chiropractor.
Although whiplash injuries can occur for various reasons (including amusement-park rides and sport injuries, particularly those incurred in contact sports such as rugby), the great majority of whiplash claims are made after car accidents.
In order to be eligible for whiplash claims, the injury must have occurred in the past three years. Moreover, the accident victim must have received medical attention for the accident in which the whiplash occurred. The victim must also be able to show that the whiplash was formally diagnosed as such by a doctor, specialist, or chiropractor in order for whiplash claims to be successful.
If the injury was incurred during a road traffic accident (as most whiplash cases in the United Kingdom are), the victim can be eligible for whiplash claims only if the accident was the fault of another person. Whiplashes sustained when one crashes into a stationery and unoccupied vehicle are generally ineligible for such claims.
Whiplash claims may also be filed in response to whiplash injuries sustained in other ways. If a child is injured in the said manner while riding an amusement park ride, the amusement park or fairground is liable, and the child's parent or legal guardian may be able to file a compensation claim. A construction enterprise may be liable if one of its workers incurs a whiplash injury, provided that the said injury was not the fault of the worker. Thus, injured workers may file for whiplash claims.
Although forceps delivery (when the doctor has to pull the baby out) is thought to cause many cases of whiplash in infants (the head is pulled or the neck hyper-extended in the vaginal canal by the forceps) injuries such as these are rarely diagnosed, so the physician or midwife cannot be held responsible in such cases. Whiplash claims are restricted to cases in which the injury has been diagnosed, treated and documented within three years preceding the introduction of the claim.
These injuries are so common that entire firms specialise in making whiplash claims for compensation, and there are solicitors whose entire legal careers are based upon the filing of such claims. Whiplash injury is one of the most common personal injuries incurred in the UK.