THE USE OF LEGAL SERVICES BY VICTIMS OF ACCIDENTS IN THE HOME1—A PILOT STUDY
| Author | H. G. Genn,J. Lyons,S. B. Burman |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1977.tb01487.x |
| Date | 01 January 1977 |
| Published date | 01 January 1977 |
THE USE
OF
LEGAL
SERVICES BY
A
PILOT STUDY
VICTIMS
OF
ACCIDENTS
IN
THE
HOME
’-
1.
INTRODUCTION
IN
1970, according to official statistics,
in
England and Wales 6,462
people died from accidents
in
the home, 97,620 psople were admitted
to hospital because of their injuries, and an estimated
two
million
people were involved in domestic accidents resulting
in
minor injuries
or
property damage.2 The risk to
an.
individual
of
accidental death
in the home
is
as
high
,as
between
a
third and
a
half
of
that from
death in a road traffic accident
in
the under 65 age group.3
Yet
despite
the
size
of
the problem
a
brief examination
o€
reported law cases
suggests that oinly
a
tiny number
of
victims
of
home accidents sue
for
damages, compared with the victims
of
road accidents. The recent
empirical study discussed below
bears
out this impression:
out
d
905
cases
of home accidents causing personal injury
in
Bristol
in
a
six-month period only seven people
men
considered making
a
claim
for damages against another person, while
of
these only two obtained
legal advice and only one actually took steps to claim compdtion.
A
possible
explanation
for
this could
be
that far fewer home
accident viotims have grounds
for
legal action against
a
third party
who caused the accident. The 1974
survey
by’the Building Research
Establishment,
for
example, shows that between 1956 and 1972 the
largest number
of
home accident deaths attribated
ro
a
single cause
resulted from falls, and that
90
per cent. of these dkurred
in
the
65
and over age group? It is likely that the majority
of
thase victims did
not have grounds
for
a
legal action against a third party, but fell
because of their own physical weakness.
Secondly,
it
is possible that even where victims have grounds for
a legal action, only
a
small proportion suffer serious financid loss
as a result
of
their accidents and that the Test do not consider
it
worth while instituting
a
legal claim.
However, there may be other reasons for the inadequate use
of
the
legal system by home ‘accident victims. It could be that victims are
unaware
of
their legal rights even where they have a legal claim
and have suffered serious loss, and do not think
in
terms
d
legal
remedies for loss suffered
as
a result
of
home accidents. In 1974, for
example, out
of
a
total
of
140,000 complaints to Consumer Advice
1
We are most grateful to the Medical Research Division of the Health Education
Council
for
making the sample of home accident victims available to
us
and
for
the
facilities and assistance they provided.
2
J.
Thomson and
L.
J.
Hesketh,
“
Accident Surveillance System
for
hme
Accidents,’’ Home Office and Department
of
Prices and Consumer Protection Paper,
March 1975,
p.
1.
3
R. S. Alphey and S.
J.
Leach, “Accidental Death
in
the Home,” Building
Research Establishment Current Paper, CP 98/74; November 1974.
4
Ibid.
p.
2.
47
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