Broken Nose Compensation Claims In The UK

The cracking sound. The blood. And then the overwhelming pain. A broken nose is undoubtedly a deeply unpleasant accident that can cause an array of problems for the victim. Nasal bone fractures can happen remarkably easily in a number of different ways. We discuss what you could do if your injury was caused by someone else. For practical advice about your rights after a no-fault nasal fracture accident, please read on.

broken nose compensation

How to claim broken nose compensation

Several laws protect us in the workplace, when using facilities in public, or when we use the roads. Also, we are protected when receiving health care to ensure that we are not the victim of any medical negligence. We look at these laws in further detail and explore how they can form the basis for a successful compensation claim with the right evidence when they are not upheld.

How do you know if your nose is broken or fractured? What do they do for a fractured nose? How long does a fractured nose take to heal? We aim to answer all these points and others in this article. But, if you are ready to start your claim now, get in touch with our friendly team to start the process. There is absolutely no obligation to do anything.

Get started by calling us on 020 3870 4868 or emailing at UK Law.co.uk. You can also use the ‘live support’ option in the bottom right of this screen for instant help and advice.

Services And Information

  1. Everything You Need To Know About Broken Nose Compensation Claims
  2. What Is A Broken Nose Injury?
  3. What Are The Parts Of The Nose Called?
  4. Broken Nose Symptoms
  5. Common Causes Of A Broken Nose
  6. Broken Nose Compensation Calculator
  7. How To Treat A Broken Nose
  8. Missed Nose Fractures
  9. Broken Nose Misdiagnosed?
  10. How Long After Breaking Your Nose Could You Claim Compensation?
  11. What Should You Do After Breaking Your Nose?
  12. How To Claim Broken Nose Compensation On A No Win No Fee Basis
  13. Similar Guides
  14. FAQs About Broken Bone Compensation Claims

Everything You Need To Know About Broken Nose Compensation Claims

A broken nose is very distressing. As well as the pain and inconvenience, there can be healing issues which mean the nose may be deformed for life. Correcting problems such as this with cosmetic surgery can be expensive. This article explains what steps you can take to address the financial and health consequences of a broken nose.

We look at how a broken nose is caused, how they are diagnosed and what treatment options are available. We explain how a compensation figure for a fractured nose caused by someone else can be reached using two types of damages. When expertly calculated using the right evidence, you could see your potential damages far exceed your original hopes.

In certain areas of life as mentioned before we are owed a duty of care and we also owe others a duty of care. legislation that applies this duty of care is listed below:

In conclusion, we show you how to use a No Win No Fee agreement with a personal injury lawyer. Seeking compensation this way can make the whole process easier.

What Is A Broken Nose Injury?

A broken nose or nasal fracture is an injury that affects the bones in your nose. This bone is quite fragile and protrudes from the centre of our face in a way that makes it quite vulnerable to flying or falling objects and collision or impact. When a nose breaks, it can affect breathing, smell, taste and other aspects of facial mobility and sensation.

Any type of facial trauma can result in a broken nose either independently, or as part of multiple injuries. We look at the signs and symptoms of a broken nose in detail below and in addition to this, we examine the structure of the nose. This can help you understand better why your nose broke and what preventative measures can be taken in the future.

What Are The Parts Of The Nose Called?

The human nose is supported by the nasal bone and also cartilage; upper lateral cartilage and lower lateral cartilage. All these delicate parts of the nose sit in a tight and symmetrical arrangement with each other.

Broken Nose Symptoms

Broken nose symptoms can be visually dramatic and painful. When this organ is confronted by a sharp or blunt impact from a heavy object or fall, the nasal bone can crush, dislodge and twist out of its natural arrangement. When this happens, there are some immediately noticeable effects:

  • Pain in that area and across the face
  • An instant headache
  • Bleeding from the nose – in some cases profusely
  • A crunching or cracking noise
  • Immediate swelling and redness
  • Discharges of nasal mucous
  • Loss of sensation
  • Visual disturbances
  • Light-headedness and faintness

Broken nose symptoms can often present as a combination of all of these symptoms. Given the proximity of the nose to the eyes, any injury in this part of the body can be both highly distressing and potentially dangerous. Any symptoms that suggest a broken nose need to be looked at by a medical specialist.

Common Causes Of A Broken Nose

What causes a broken nose? As discussed, the location of the nose makes colliding face-first with any object an immediate risk. So, let’s examine some typical scenarios in which it’s possible for the nose to suffer an injury.

  • A door can be opened suddenly whilst you are behind it
  • Slipping in an unattended wet surface can result in a face-first fall
  • You could sustain a broken nose as part of a road traffic accident
  • A motorist could knock you from your bicycle
  • A broken nose can be the result of a violent assault or overcrowding issue
  • A projectile could hit you in the face anywhere but particularly during a sports or recreational activity
  • Something might fall or impact your nose from above, either side or below
  • Falling from a height can create facial injury

There are many others. You may well be able to list your own particular set of circumstances that caused this issue.

Was it your fault?

Before you commence a claim for broken nose compensation, it’s important to ask yourself if you did all you could to avoid being harmed. Successful claims for damages rest on your ability to show that you were exposed needlessly to harm. You will need evidence to demonstrate that you were put in a position of avoidable harm because of the negligence of those who had a responsibility to keep you safe.

Broken Nose Compensation Calculator

As part of your personal injury claim, an independent medical assessment will be arranged to gain a full diagnosis of your nasal fracture and what long-term issues it might create. Legal professionals may refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (a list of suggested awards used to determine what the certain values of a personal injury claim might be after claimants have sustained an accident). The damages you receive for the pain and suffering will be called general damages.

The chart below offers an extract from the Judicial College Guidelines and serves as an example of general damages.

Edit
Severity of nasal injury notes potential award
Serious Serious multiple fractures that require surgery £9,990 to £21,700
Displaced fractures Displaced fracture with full recovery but only after surgical intervention £3,710 to £4,790
Moderate Displaced fracture that can be corrected with manual manipulation £2,370 to £2,960
Mild Full recovery after a simple undisplaced fracture with no complications £1,600 to £2,370

Special damages

As well as this, your lawyer can advise how you can collect evidence of financial loss because of your no-fault injuries. As the victim of injuries that were not your fault, you may suffer a whole host of additional costs as you try to cope. Gather together all the receipts and invoices which show how you had to pay money out to make ends meet. There may be completely unexpected costs or losses that are directly linked to the nasal fracture such as:

  • The need for rhinoplasty or cosmetic surgical treatments
  • Counselling for the stress and trauma of facial disfigurement
  • Travel costs to and from hospital or doctors appointments

Give our team a call. It may be that there are numerous other expenses that you could have included under special damages that you have not even considered. The expertise of a skilled and experience No Win No Fee lawyer can do much to greatly improve your final settlement amount and address all these problems.

How To Treat A Broken Nose

There is a useful link from the NHS that offers advice about how to treat a broken nose. After suffering a sudden strike or impact to the face you should always attend an A&E department or minor injuries unit to get your injuries properly attended to.

Treatment may involve an x-ray to establish the full extent of the damage. In some instances, it’s appropriate for the doctor to attempt to manually realign the nose. This would be performed under a local anaesthetic. If the fracture is displaced (the bones are separated out of alignment) then surgery may be needed.

Reconstructive surgery can also be part of treating a broken nose. The bones can be realigned during surgery to aid breathing issues. Rhinoplasty and cosmetic procedures can also be conducted to restore the shape and symmetry of your nose. It’s not always possible to return the structure of the nose to what it was before, leaving victims with a distressing and permanent reminder such as a bump or crooked appearance.

Missed Nose Fractures

Perhaps you are considering a claim for medical negligence? Was your broken nose not spotted despite your best efforts to inform the medical staff in charge? Medical treatment can entail the creation of other problems as an unfortunate side-effect of treating you. But this is not the same as negligence. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2012, (Care Quality Commission) all health care providers have a legal duty to :

  • Prevent unsafely care
  • Prevent avoidable injury or harm
  • Do all they can to avoid infection
  • Use the appropriate tools and techniques
  • Staff should be competent and skilled
  • Seek consent for treatments

As patients, we have duties also. When we present our symptoms, we need to be as clear and forthcoming as we can be in order to give the health practitioner the best chance of treating us properly. We cannot realistically launch a claim for medical neglect if we did not report our ailments properly.

Broken Nose Misdiagnosed?

Missed or misdiagnosis issues can arise for a number of reasons. How might a broken nose go undetected in a medical environment? What reasons could cause your injury to go unacknowledged or treated, exposing you to greater harm further down the line?

  • Your notes are mixed up or mis-read
  • X-rays are not properly examined
  • Medical staff disagree on the best course of treatment
  • There are language barriers between the medical staff and the patient
  • Staff are tired or over-worked and there’s a lapse in concentration
  • The patient fails to properly explain their pain or issue
  • Delays and waiting times cause additional problems
  • Any failure of communication between the relevant departments

Who can you hold responsible?

Missed diagnoses can cause further unnecessary suffering. If your original health concern is not treated properly it can create additional issues. This refers to NHS and private clinic care.

Speak to our team if you are unsure.

How Long After Breaking Your Nose Could You Claim Compensation?

There are personal injury claims time limits. After discovering your problem, you have three years to start a claim. If you sustained these injuries under the age of 18, these time scales start on the date of your 18th birthday.

What Should You Do After Breaking Your Nose?

We have covered quite a range of information, so in order to make the process simpler, below is a step by step guide to what you can do to launch a compensation claim for a broken nose and give the very best chances of success:

  • Firstly, ensure that your medical health problems are properly taken care of.
  • Secondly, take the appropriate steps to be referred to a nose specialist if necessary
  • Gather evidence of your accident and injury. This could be witness details to those who saw what happened or the accident log at work. CCTV and photos can also assist with your case.
  • Arrange for an independent medical assessment
  • Collate evidence that demonstrates out of pocket expenses because of the injuries
  • Access your medical records if its a medical negligence claim
  • Consider starting a claim against the third party that harmed through a breach of duty of care.
  • Or, reach out and connect with a No Win No Fee lawyer
  • Speak to our team at UK Law to help with this

How To Claim Broken Nose Compensation On A No Win No Fee Basis

Why No Win No Fee? What are the benefits of paying for legal representation in this way? There’s a good chance that this is the first time that you’ve ever considered using a personal injury lawyer. Many people are put off of starting cases like this because they are worried about the cost of a solicitor. Although solicitors are not a necessity but a choice many prefer to have a solicitor support their case.

For starters, there are no upfront fees required to be paid to the No Win No Fee lawyer. With none to pay as the case progresses and nothing to pay at all if the case fails. No Win No Fee lawyers deduct a small percentage from the overall amount at the end of only cases that win. This means in a successful case, you will always receive the bulk of any payout.

In addition to this, lawyers working on an agreement like this tend to be very realistic about the chances of success. As any fee they hope to receive comes from a positive outcome only, they have a vested interest in giving your case their utmost attention and scrutiny. But they will not waste your time if the case is weak. If they can take up the case, they will aim for the highest appropriate amount for you and do their level best to achieve a successful result.

It only takes one phone call to assess eligibility;

Similar Guides

Thank you for reading this guide on how to seek compensation for a broken nose. In addition to this topic, at UK Law we are able to assist with other areas of personal injury. Perhaps you:

FAQs About Broken Bone Compensation Claims

How serious does a fracture need to be for you to claim compensation?

Even a mild nasal fracture caused by negligence could be the basis for a personal injury claim.

When could you claim for another person?

Children or those unable to represent themselves can have a ‘litigation friend’ stand-in on their behalf. This is an adult who has the best interests of that individual at heart and can assume all the vital tasks the case may require.

What long-term consequences could you claim damages for?

A broken nose can cause quite a noticeable disfigurement such as bumps and crookedness. Furthermore, breathing issues can also persist.

What if there was no evidence of the accident or injury?

Claims without evidence may not fare so well. Therefore, it’s essential that you get as much evidence as possible to prove the other person was at fault.

Writer FE

Checked by EI.