Working hard to get a young brain-injured client home to his family
On a sharp bend, the car left the road and collided with a tree. The force of the collision rendered Tom and the driver unconscious. It also caused a fuel leak and the car burst into flames. Thankfully, passers-by and nearby residents came to Tom’s aid and dragged him from the burning vehicle before calling emergency services.
As well as suffering burns all over his body, Tom suffered a catastrophic brain injury. Tom was in an induced coma for more than a month after the accident and spent many months afterwards in the High Dependency Unit.
His brain injury was so severe that Tom now has profound mobility and communication difficulties. He lacks capacity to make his own decisions and requires carers to assist him with every aspect of his daily care. This is the likely to remain the case for the rest of Tom’s life.
Fieldfisher is regularly instructed by injured clients or their families seeking a second legal opinion. Tom’s family instructed a local firm shortly after the accident, but came to Fieldfisher's Manchester Personal Injury team for the expertise of a law firm regularly engaged in supporting those with the most severe of injuries.
Tom and his family face a difficult and uncertain future. Our priority is to ensure that Tom has a full package of rehabilitation in which he is fully engaged, to maximise his quality of life into the future. The package is very likely to include physical therapies, a trained team of support workers, cognitive and behavioural strategies, and cutting-edge technologies to build upon Tom’s retained motor ability through which he can hopefully communicate with his family.
Although he currently lives in residential care, before the accident he lived at home with his parents, siblings and extended family. Family is everything to Tom and there is nothing his family wants more than to have him back living in a suitable property, with the support he needs and his family around him. We are working hard to make this happen.
Tom’s care requirements are complex, but he deserves to be in an individualised setting in his community surrounded by his family.
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Contact us
For further information about road traffic accident claims or brain injury claims, please call Keith Cundall on 0330 460 7381 or email keith.cundall@fieldfisher.com.
Alternatively
- You can speak to our personal injury solicitors on freephone 0800 358 3848
- email us: personalinjury@fieldfisher.com
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