The Nation's Health

Claim Pain

"RTC, Cars vs Car, 3 patients with neck pain"

Over the past decade, a culture of claim has slowly developed in Britain. Advert slogans like 'where there's blame, there's a claim' encourage people to claim for absolutely anything. A woman made a claim for £1m because her chair 'farts', gamblers sue casinos for loosing money, McDonalds were sued because someone burnt their tongue on hot coffee. The growing litany of ludicrous litigation needs to end. We now live in a country where kids can't do a sack race, can't play with conkers, where every injury costs companies money and where even burglars can sue for injuries sustained while 'on the rob'.

The fear has gripped every council and business and the introduction of absurd rules, regulations, signs and labels have become common place but one of the biggest areas abused by the public is that of whiplash. England has become the whiplash capital of Europe. Over 1300 claims are made every single day and accounts for over 75% of all injury claims in the country. This huge amount of claims has in turn led to a huge amount of companies encouraging people to claim. Just type 'claim' in to any search engine and see just how many there are.

We were called to the above job. When we arrived there was a big black BMW, a man, a woman and a child occupied the seats. Behind them was a mini cooper. Standing next to the mini was a mother and child. They were both fine, and the reason they were fine, was the it was a 2mph impact. Not a mark on either car. The police who were on scene had requested the incident be reviewed on CCTV. It was and the following came of the radio:

"No more than 2mph. The front vehicle didn't even move"

Case closed? No. I had 3 patients. The eastern european family in the BMW all had neck pain. Even the 2 year old. (I couldn't confirm this as he didn't speak english but the parents assured me that despite the fact he was laughing, the child had neck pain)

"Ok sir, stay nice and still, we are going to arrange to have the roof cut off your car"

Like a jack-in-the-box he leapt out of the car, as did his wife and the child was removed. Amazing recovery. They made it clear they needed to be checked over and needed a copy of my paperwork.

"I'll give my paperwork to the hospital"

They declined hospital. They wanted to go and see their own doctor. Totally fed up and frustrated I completed the necessary paperwork and off they went. And here lies the problem. They will put in a claim. The lovely lady who bumped them will be financially punished with an increased premium despite there being no damage OR INJURY! The family will probably be awarded £2500 each for whiplash injuries as they are hard to prove and the doctors who assess them don't care. Doctors are there for diagnosing and treating but they are being used to alleviate social conditions and perpetuate a compensation culture. If you’ve got a doctor who is being paid £200 for every report he stamps, there is no incentive for him to turn around and say ‘I don’t believe you’.

I don't know what is being done by the government but something has to give. These idiots got 2 police cars, an FRU, an Ambulance and no doubt 3 GP appointments. For emergency services alone you are looking at a net bill of £3000 to the tax payer. Multiply that by the 1300 claims a day and its evident that 'claim pain' is not sustainable. Stop it and that 'national deficit' may become easier to wipe off.