Spleen Injury Compensation Claims
Ruptured spleen, splenectomy and missed diagnosis
A spleen injury is treated as an emergency and then, very often, treated as over. It usually is not. If the spleen was removed, there are things you will be doing for the rest of your life because of it, and those are part of the claim. We handle spleen injury claims on a No Win No Fee basis.
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If your spleen was removed, that is a lifelong thing
Most people are told they can live perfectly well without a spleen, and that is broadly true. Other organs, including the liver, take over many of its jobs. What tends not to get explained is everything that comes with it afterwards, and that is precisely where the value of a spleen claim sits.
What the NHS says life without a spleen involves
- A pneumococcal vaccination, with a booster every five years
- The flu vaccine every year
- MenACWY and MenB vaccination
- Low-dose antibiotics for at least two years, and in many cases for life
- Carrying medical identification, such as a MedicAlert or Medi-Tag bracelet or pendant
- Care with travel, including taking antibiotics with you, and avoiding areas where malaria is present where you can
Source: GOV.UK guidance on drivers’ hours and tachographs for goods vehicles.
Why that matters to a claim
The NHS is clear that the risk of a serious infection is small. It is equally clear that the risk “will be present for the rest of your life”. That combination is what a claim has to capture: not a catastrophe, but a permanent piece of management that did not exist before the accident.
In practical terms that can mean decades of prescription costs, a vaccination schedule to keep up with, and a real constraint on where you can reasonably travel. The travel point is often the one people feel most, and it is a genuine loss of amenity rather than only a financial one.
None of this appears on its own. Somebody has to identify it, evidence it and claim it.
The distinction that matters legally. Where a spleen is removed and the person is left with a continuing vulnerability to infection, that is treated differently from a case where the spleen is lost but the immune risk is not significant. Which side of that line you fall on is a medical question answered by the expert evidence, and it makes a substantial difference. It is also a question that never gets asked if nobody raises it.
Can you make a spleen injury claim?
The test is the same as for any injury claim. Somebody owed you a duty of care, they fell short of it, and that is what caused the damage to your spleen. What changes is who that somebody is.
The spleen was injured in an accident
The spleen sits under the ribs on the left side, so it is vulnerable to blunt force to that part of the body. Road collisions are the most common cause, followed by falls, being struck at work, and contact sport. Where the injury came from an assault, there is a separate route through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority even if nobody has been convicted.
The injury was missed, or caused during treatment
A splenic injury is not always obvious straight away, and one that is not picked up can deteriorate. Claims also arise where a spleen was damaged during other abdominal surgery, or removed when it need not have been. This is a clinical negligence claim, and the live version of this page does not mention it at all.
These claims ask a harder question: whether the care fell below a reasonable standard, and whether better care would probably have saved the spleen. Not every bad outcome is negligence.
A note on time limits, because the guidance on this is often wrong. The usual limit is three years from the injury, or from when you first knew it was connected to someone else’s failure. For a child, the three years does not start until their eighteenth birthday, which means they have until they are twenty-one. If you have read anywhere that a claim for a child must be brought before they turn eighteen, that is not right. Where an injured person lacks the mental capacity to conduct a claim, the period does not run while that remains the case. An application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority has its own shorter deadline, normally two years.
Common causes of spleen injuries
Almost all of them involve force to the left side of the abdomen or the lower ribs.
- Road collisions. Seat belt loading, steering wheel impact, and being struck as a pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist. Collisions involving larger vehicles are a common source. See
- Falls From height at work, or onto a hard edge, where the ribs take the impact.
- Being struck at work. Moving vehicles, falling loads and machinery.
- Contact sport. Rugby, football and martial arts, where the question is usually whether the rules, the supervision or the equipment fell short of what was reasonable rather than whether contact happened. See
- Maintenance and mechanical failure. Brakes, tyres and steering, where the inspection records usually tell the story.
- Assault A blow or kick to the abdomen. This route runs through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority where there is nobody to sue.
- Treatment that went wrong. Covered under route two above.
One thing this page will not do is list symptoms. A splenic injury can be a medical emergency and it is not something to diagnose from a website. If you are unwell, or you have had a blow to that part of your body and something does not feel right, contact NHS 111 or emergency services rather than reading on. The legal question will still be there afterwards.
What a spleen injury claim can cover
A claim has two halves. What the injury has done to you, and what it has cost you. On lorry collisions the second half is frequently the larger of the two.
The injury itself
Assessed against published brackets once an independent medical expert has reported. The key question is whether the spleen was repaired or removed, and if removed, whether you have been left with a continuing vulnerability to infection. Those are treated as different injuries, not as degrees of the same one.
Surgery, scarring and any psychological effect of what was often a frightening emergency are assessed alongside it.
What it has cost, and will cost
- Earnings lost, and future earnings where you cannot return to the same work
- Prescription costs over a lifetime, where antibiotics are ongoing
- The vaccination schedule, including boosters,and any private provision
- Travel insurance that costs more, or cover that is refused
- Holidays and travel you can no longer reasonably take
- Treatment, care during recovery, and help at home
Why there is no figure on this page. Any number quoted before a medical expert has said whether you have a lasting immune vulnerability is describing somebody else’s case, because that single question moves the assessment more than anything else. What is worth asking a solicitor at the outset is not what your claim is worth, but whether they intend to claim the lifelong costs at all. A surprising number of these claims are settled without them.
Evidence that supports a spleen injury claim
Two things have to be established: that somebody was responsible, and what you have been left with. On a spleen claim the second half is the one people under-evidence, because much of it has not happened yet.
Already settled, or been offered something? If a spleen was removed and the offer was made without any expert view on your immune position, it is worth taking advice before accepting. Once a claim is settled it is settled, and the lifelong costs do not come back for a second look.
No Win No Fee spleen injury claims
A No Win No Fee agreement, properly called a Conditional Fee Agreement, means there is nothing to pay upfront. If the claim does not succeed, you do not pay us for our work, subject to the terms of your agreement.
If it succeeds, a success fee agreed with you in advance comes out of your compensation. There is a legal cap on that fee in personal injury claims, and it is worth understanding properly: the cap is calculated on your damages for the injury itself and your past financial losses, not on the whole settlement, because future losses are left out of the calculation.
On a claim with substantial lifelong costs that distinction is worth real money to you.
Ask us to walk you through the figures, including what happens to disbursements and whether any insurance is taken out on your behalf, rather than taking a headline percentage on trust. That applies to any firm you speak to.
Spleen injury claims
your questions answered
The questions we are asked most, answered plainly.
Can I claim if my spleen had to be removed?
Yes, and a splenectomy is generally treated as a more serious injury than a spleen that was repaired. The question that matters most is whether you have been left with a continuing vulnerability to infection, because a claim where that is present is assessed differently from one where the immune risk is not significant. That is a medical question, answered by an independent expert instructed for the claim, and it is worth making sure somebody actually asks it.
Does losing a spleen affect you for life?
The NHS is clear on both halves of this. Other organs, including the liver, take over many of the spleen’s functions, so most people live normally without one. But it also says there is a small risk of a serious infection developing quickly, and that this risk is present for the rest of your life. In practice that means a pneumococcal booster every five years, the flu vaccine annually, MenACWY and MenB vaccination, low-dose antibiotics for at least two years and often for life, carrying medical identification, and taking care with travel to places where malaria is present.
Can I claim if my spleen injury was missed by a hospital?
Possibly. A splenic injury is not always obvious immediately, and claims arise where the signs were there and were not acted on, or where a spleen was damaged during other abdominal surgery. This is a clinical negligence claim rather than an accident claim, and the test is different: it asks whether the care fell below a standard supported by a responsible body of medical opinion, and separately whether better care would probably have changed the outcome. Not every bad result is negligence, and an honest firm will tell you which yours looks like.
How long do I have to make a spleen injury claim?
Usually three years from the injury, or from when you first knew it was connected to someone else’s failure. For a child, the three years does not begin until their eighteenth birthday, so they have until they are twenty-one. If you have read anywhere that a claim for a child has to be brought before they turn eighteen, that is wrong. Where someone lacks the mental capacity to conduct a claim, the period does not run while that is the case. An application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority has its own shorter deadline, normally two years.
Can I claim if my spleen was injured in an assault?
Yes, and there is a route even where the attacker was never identified or convicted. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority pays awards to blameless victims of violent crime against a published tariff, and eligibility does not depend on the offender having money. It does require the incident to have been reported to the police as soon as reasonably practicable and for you to cooperate with the investigation. The deadline is normally two years rather than three, which is shorter than most people expect.
What if my claim has already been settled?
Then it is generally closed, which is why the point is worth raising here rather than afterwards. If a spleen was removed and the claim was settled without any expert view on whether you were left vulnerable to infection, the lifelong costs will not have been part of the figure and they cannot be revisited later. If you are currently being offered a settlement and nobody has asked that question, take advice before you accept it.
Find out where you stand
Tell us what happened, roughly when, and whether the spleen was repaired or removed. That last detail matters more than anything else you can tell us. We will give you an honest view of whether there is a claim worth bringing, and of what it would need to establish.
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Most people who ring about a spleen injury were discharged some time ago and were left with the impression that the matter was closed. If the spleen was removed, it is not closed, and the part that continues is the part most claims never account for. Ten minutes on the phone will tell you whether that applies to you. The conversation is free and commits you to nothing.
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