For our clients and their loved ones, many things are taken for granted. One of my duties as personal injury lawyer is paying attention to what my clients are no longer aware of.
For example, it is natural for loved ones to care for their loved one after an accident. With families, a schedule naturally develops so that my client has visitors in the nursing home every day. Visitors who have cooked food, brought laundry and see that new socks need to be bought. Partners find it normal to take my client everywhere, because he cannot travel independently and will be late for hospital treatment with transportation arranged by the health insurance company. Elderly parents caring for their totally care-dependent son because he is unintelligible to others.
When I tentatively ask these clients and family members, if they would not like to leave at least some of the more impersonal tasks to a professional, the response is initially dismissive. I then explain even more cautiously that I want to prevent family members from becoming overburdened, or the original relationship (siblings, life partners) from fading. Then my clients also no longer have the support, which really cannot be provided by anyone but a loved one.
Shrugging shoulders together
Often it takes a while, before my clients or their loved one does ask about the possibilities of professional help. Or compensation for informal care. The latter is chosen when the care can be provided by a professional. But best by a loved one. Which professional can make the food that reminds you of your childhood and is the highlight of your day? Which professional can comfort you, when all you have are memories from a distant past?
Legislators have realized that the support of loved ones to our clients is essential. And deserves appreciation. Not only in words, but also in money (Care and affection damage, Explanatory Memorandum for Consultation, p. 4). Not because I have ever even noticed that a family member makes up the money. But because the money is tangible evidence that the burden is shared together. And because the money is sometimes necessary to allow the family member to take a step back at work or in their own household in order to continue to provide informal care.
Unfortunately, the draft caregiving injury bill has not been developed by the legislature. And so it may happen that a client with severe brain injury, who can no longer cook, is told that no compensation is offered for family members who come by almost daily to keep his life running. By short-circuiting and making sure his administration is done. Because it would not be normal and customary to outsource those tasks to a professional (which is not true, by the way).
So I sincerely hope that not some, but all insurers want to shoulder the burden that informal caregivers carry. Out of fairness. And humanity. For victims and their loved ones.
If you have questions about this blog, please contact the author, Christa Wijnakker