Compensation for perforated bowel

A bowel perforation can occur in many ways, including as a result of trauma such as in a workplace accident or road traffic collision, or due to medical negligence or illness. If you have suffered a perforated bowel and someone was at fault for your injury, you may be entitled to compensation.

In this article, we look at how your compensation for a perforated bowel will be calculated.

Perforated bowel compensation claims  

A perforated bowel can arise from any number of scenarios, ranging from:

• Crush or falls.  
• Farming accidents.  
• Industrial or workplace incidents.
• Military incidents.
• Medical negligence by a doctor misdiagnosing you or not providing you with the necessary medical treatment.
• Medical negligence by a surgeon during surgery
• Road traffic collisions.  

In whatever circumstances your bowel was perforated, you may have a compensation claim if you can prove three things:

1. The incident that resulted in your perforated bowel was not your fault
2. A third party owed you a duty of care and breached that duty  
3. Your bowel perforated as a result of the breach of duty  

The third-party could be your employer, a motorist or a medical professional. Our specialist lawyers will use their legal skills to prove that the third party in your case breached their duty of care. In the case of an employer, they may not have followed health and safety regulations specific to your industry and occupation. A motorist may have been speeding. A medical professional such as a surgeon may not have displayed competency during an operation for any number of reasons.

Once you have proved these three things, the amount you receive in compensation for a perforated bowel is not affected by the circumstances but is instead based on the extent of your injury, your prognosis, any past expenses you incurred, and your future losses and expenses.

What is a perforated bowel?

A perforated bowel is a rip or tear in the colon or the small or large intestine. It can also be referred to as a gastrointestinal perforation.

A perforated bowel requires immediate medical care and can lead to complications if waste from your bowel enters your bloodstream. In rare cases, a perforated bowel can result in you suffering peritonitis or sepsis.

Your perforated bowel compensation claim will cover all your bowel injuries, as well as any consequences flowing from the perforation and any other medical conditions it caused. This could include the requirement for additional surgery to resect your bowel, a temporary or permanent colostomy, or the complications of peritonitis or sepsis on your body.

As a perforated bowel is a serious and complex injury, our specialist lawyers will need to obtain the expert medical evidence required to show the full extent of the damage caused by your perforated bowel and any resulting complications and whether you may require additional medical treatment in the future.  

Medical negligence and perforated bowel compensation claims

Our specialist team of lawyers have acted on behalf of claimants involving various types of bowel medical negligence.

Our medical negligence lawyers will also need to look at the ramifications of the negligence upon you. For example, if you required additional surgery or if sepsis meant you suffered life-altering injuries. The clinician or surgeon will be responsible for compensation for all the medical issues that flow from the perforated bowel. That is why it is important to gather comprehensive medical evidence, to not only prove the doctor was at fault, but to assist in ensuring your compensation adequately reflects the pain and suffering experienced by you and covers any further treatment or consequences.

Calculating compensation for a perforated bowel    

Your perforated bowel compensation will cover the following:

1. General damages for the pain and suffering experienced by you.  
2. Special damages for any financial loss sustained by you.  
3. Special damages for any future loss or expenditure brought about by your perforated bowel.  

The amount of your damages will not solely depend on how your bowel was perforated (medical negligence, road traffic collision or workplace incident) but considers the effect of the perforation on you, including:

• The nature and duration of any symptoms. For example, a perforated bowel might have resulted in a colostomy that required a second operation to reverse it, and you may have spent weeks in hospital recovering from sepsis and then needed intense rehabilitation to get you back to your previous level of fitness.
• Whether your future health and treatment needs have been. For example, if your colostomy was not reversible or if your long-term health has been affected and you are no longer able to do the same things you were doing before you suffered the bowel perforation, such as your job, hobbies or caring for loved ones.  

It is important any past or future losses and expenses, known as “special damages”, are properly costed to include all money spent or missed out on by you during your recovery, as well as any future anticipated losses and expenses. It can be hard for you to think back or project forward to try and calculate these special damages. That is why we will work with experts to assist in getting the evidence to help establish projected expenses going forward and to calculate the money already spent or lost by you.

In complex perforated bowel compensation cases, where liability for the negligence is admitted by the defendant, we will ask for part of your compensation to be released early to help alleviate any financial pressure you may be under, known as an interim payment.  This can help you until you receive your full compensation award.

In most personal injury and medical negligence claims, we can offer no-win, no-fee funding. For more information on funding and to discuss your potential claim, please call our experts today.  

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Need legal advice

If you or a loved one have had an accident at work, you may be entitled to make a compensation claim. Get in touch via our online enquiry form for free, no-obligation advice and to discuss your case.

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