Occupational Injuries
Injuries sustained at work can have a lasting effect on your quality of life and ability to earn into the future. Many people work in jobs that expose them to risk. Whilst employers protect people against risk, and insurance schemes protect people for loss of income and other effects, there is often a need to take a personal injury claim for compensation when an injury is sustained.
While most of these claims are relatively straightforward, there are work injuries that can lead to complex legal cases. These are commonly called occupationally-acquired injuries. At Malcomson Law, we have specialist experience in the area of occupationally-acquired or work injuries.
Work Injury - Hepatitis C or HIV
There are instances whereby doctors or healthcare workers have contracted diseases such as HIV or Hepatitis C from a needle-stick injury or infection. This impacts on their health and all other aspects of their working and home life.
Financial
There are impacts in terms of mortgage protection, life assurance and voluntary health insurance. Any severance package being negotiated must take these factors into account.
No life assurance company is going to furnish life assurance cover to any individual with reduced life expectancy, without at least a significant loading on such a policy. Therefore, the individual may be unable to take out a mortgage protection policy.
Salary protection policies may not be available to an infected healthcare worker.
Taking a legal action for compensation may lead to loss of anonymity, which means a loss of privacy, and potential stigmatisation.
Taking a Claim
Litigation is usually based on the Health and Safety and Welfare at Work Act 1989, which puts an onus on the employer to have due regard to the health and safety of healthcare professionals and to take the appropriate measures to safeguard their health and safety in the workplace. While these cases are often successful, there can be significant financial risks associated with taking the case.
Furthermore, the position of doctors who have acquired an infection from their patients remains uncertain. GPs, who are self-employed, may have no choice but to continue practising in their chosen profession, although they can put their patients at risk of infection.
The circumstances of infection of doctors with an occupationally-acquired contagious disease is a current problem, and there appears to be little willingness by the Irish state to impose a fair and equitable solution.
Until a proper compensation scheme is introduced by the government, healthcare professionals will be left with no choice but to take a case to court or keep their infection hidden.
Making a claim
For further information, please contact Malcomson Law by calling 01 8744422 or complete an Online Enquiry Form. Your enquiry will be forwarded to a solicitor who specialises in work injuries.