Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) Compensation Information
Andrew
Andrew was employed as a warehouseman. Whilst he was walking past a stack of metal box sections on a pallet in the warehouse, a forklift truck reversed into the other side of the pallet causing one of the sections on the top of the stack to fall and strike Andrew’s right dominant forearm.
Although he was in immediate pain, an x-ray at the hospital showed that there were no broken bones and he was told that he had a bad bruise. The bruise initially seemed to be getting better, but after a month or so it had not healed completely. He then started to develop some very unpleasant symptoms, including a burning pain in his right hand and forearm, which also started to sweat, even on a cold day.
Eventually his forearm and hand started to swell and became extremely sensitive to touch. It reached a point where he could not even bear to wear a long sleeved shirt. His doctor signed him off from work but seemed perplexed as to the cause of the problem. He undertook his own research on the internet and found that his symptoms seemed to exactly fit a condition known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (otherwise known as RSD, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and CRPS).
Armed with this information he returned to his doctor who referred him to a specialist. He then underwent a series of nerve block injections. Whilst these helped with the pain, he was advised that the condition was likely to be permanent. He discovered that a full recovery is only likely if the condition is diagnosed and treated in its early stages.
Andrew instructed us. His claim has yet to conclude but the expert evidence we have obtained so far suggests that he will at best have limited use of his right arm in the future. He was not able to return to his job in the warehouse and his employer eventually terminated his position with them on the grounds of longer term incapacity.
Interim payments that we have obtained from his former employer’s insurance company have enabled Andrew to commence some rehabilitation which will hopefully assist his search for alternative employment, but he has been advised that the number of jobs available to him will now be greatly limited.