According to a new study, advice on making claims for compensation is given to sufferers of whiplash when they attend A&E. The report shows that written literature given to victims of accidents often contains advice on how to make a claim for compensation for their whiplash, which encourages the patients to exaggerate the effects of their injuries.
The study was conducted by Warwick University, and featured 316 different consultants from A&Es in the UK.
According to the authors of the study:
The highly visible presence of solicitors and the ability to pursue personal injury claims in the written materials raises the question of whether litigation may facilitate inappropriate illness behaviour in this [patient] population.
The evidence is uncertain at present and certainly requires further carefully conducted investigation.
Patients are also given verbal advice together with their written advice. If patients are advised to claim for compensation it can be expected that they will make their injuries appear worse than they actually are to maximise their chances of claiming for their whiplash injuries.
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