Serious injuries usually mean long claims, with medical evidence gathered over months. It helps to understand the terms early: threshold injury, whole person impairment, non-economic loss. This page covers them in plain language for people in Wollogorang. It won't tell you what your claim is worth, because no honest page can. It will help you ask the right questions.
Goulburn & Southern Tablelands · Serious injury compensation
Serious injury? Injury compensation lawyer, Wollogorang
How serious injuries are measured in a CTP claim, and what those measurements change.
Postcode: 2581
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Wollogorang: hospitals, specialists and the medical record
Some serious injuries from crashes around Goulburn may be treated at Canberra Hospital, and those records count as much as any from Goulburn Base Hospital. Keep copies of both. A serious injury can make every trip to Goulburn a major effort. Claim help can stay at home, where the check is done by phone and online and documents can generally be signed without travelling. If a serious injury means you need changes at home, or help getting around the Upper Lachlan Shire Council area, write down what you need and why. Treatment and care needs are part of what the insurer considers under the scheme.
- Region
- Goulburn & Southern Tablelands
- Postcode
- 2581
- Public hospital in the region
- Goulburn Base Hospital
- Distance to Goulburn
- ~28 km
- Local government area
- Upper Lachlan Shire Council
Is your injury serious enough to get advice?
If your injury is more than threshold, it's worth at least one conversation with someone who knows the scheme. Whether you need more than that depends on your situation. Use these lists as a starting point.
Often worth talking to a lawyer
- The insurer has classed your injury as threshold and your doctors disagree
- An impairment assessment is coming up, or you disagree with one
- Your injury has worsened since it was last assessed
- Your injury may stop you returning to the work you did before
You may not need one
- You were mostly at fault, so no damages claim is open to you
- The injury has settled with no lasting effect on your work or daily life
- Your question is about treatment options, not compensation
If you're not sure your injury has been fully investigated, a doctor experienced with CTP can help. We can suggest doctors and allied health familiar with the Certificate of Fitness and serious injury care.
Not quite your situation?
- Hurt at work, or in a crash while you were working? That is usually a workers compensation claim first, which is a different scheme from CTP. Tell us what happened and we can point you to the right help. Free claim check
- If you want to know what compensation can include and when it is paid, the car accident compensation page sets out the whole package. Car accident compensation in Wollogorang
- Before any of this, if the real question is which scheme or kind of claim covers your injury, the compensation lawyer page is the place to begin. Compensation lawyer in Wollogorang
- If the insurer has already decided your injury is threshold and you want to challenge it, the CTP claim denied page sets out the steps. CTP claim denied in Wollogorang
Threshold injury, or something more serious?
The scheme separates threshold injuries from more serious ones, and the difference shapes the whole claim. This is a general picture based on the scheme's definition. Your doctors describe the injury, the insurer decides where it falls, and that decision can be reviewed.
Usually treated as a threshold injury
- Sprains and strains of muscles, tendons or ligaments
- Whiplash-type neck pain with no nerve findings
- Bruising and soft tissue swelling
- A psychological injury the scheme classes as threshold
- Statutory benefits generally up to 52 weeks, for accidents from 1 April 2023
May be more than a threshold injury
- Nerve damage confirmed by a doctor
- A full or partial tear of a tendon, ligament, meniscus or cartilage
- A fracture, which is generally not a soft tissue injury
- A brain injury, or a diagnosed psychological condition beyond the threshold category
- Damages may be possible if another driver was at fault and you weren't mostly at fault
General information, not legal advice, and not medical advice either. The insurer decides on the medical evidence, its decision can be reviewed, and time limits apply.
What 'serious' means in claim terms
Most people never need to think about impairment percentages. If your injury is serious, you probably will. The scheme's rules divide injuries by type first, threshold or not, and then, for some entitlements, by the degree of lasting impairment. This page explains both in general terms. Your own claim depends on your diagnosis and on the insurer's decisions, which can be reviewed.
Read next:Threshold vs non-threshold injury
Whole person impairment, explained
People are often surprised by how technical WPI is. It is assessed under guidelines that rate specific impairments, such as lost movement in a joint, and express the result as a whole-body percentage. More than 10% is the key line in CTP claims, because damages for non-economic loss, meaning pain and suffering, are only available above it. Loss of earnings doesn't need that level.
An assessment above 10% opens damages for non-economic loss and changes some timing rules as well. But many people with genuine, lasting injuries are assessed at 10% or less. That doesn't mean the injury isn't real, or that there is no damages claim. Economic loss, such as lost earning capacity, can still be claimed where the other conditions are met.
Read next:Can I claim damages? Quick check
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Threshold injuries and beyond
The definition works by exclusion. An injury is generally threshold if it is soft tissue damage with no nerve damage and no torn tendon, ligament, meniscus or cartilage, whether the tear is complete or not, or if it is a psychological injury the scheme classes as threshold. Injuries outside that description, such as fractures, torn ligaments or brain injuries, are generally more than threshold.
Which side you're on matters. For accidents from 1 April 2023, statutory benefits for a threshold injury generally last up to 52 weeks. For accidents between 1 December 2017 and 31 March 2023, the limit was 26 weeks. If your injury is more than threshold and you weren't mostly at fault, benefits can generally continue for longer, and a damages claim may be possible.
Check the date of your accident
The threshold rules and benefit periods depend on when your accident happened. Check which rules apply to your date before relying on any general statement.
Read next:Threshold injury disputes
The timing of an impairment assessment
There's usually no single moment when WPI is measured. Opinions may come from treating doctors, from doctors the insurer arranges, and, where the two sides disagree, from a medical assessment through the Personal Injury Commission. Timing matters, because injuries can improve or worsen for months. A lawyer can advise whether an assessment is premature before you rely on it.
- How complete and current your medical records are
- Scans or tests your doctors have ordered
- Whether you disagree with the result, and the deadline to say so
Read next:Insurer medical examinations
Serious injury and your future earnings
Earning capacity compares what you could have earned without the injury with what you can realistically earn now. For a tradesperson with a damaged shoulder, or an office worker with a brain injury, that gap can be large and long-lasting. Record every change to your working life: hours, duties, roles you can no longer do. Those facts sit alongside the medical evidence.
Read next:Statutory benefits vs damages
Mental health after a serious crash
A crash can cause psychological injury as well as physical injury, and sometimes instead of it. Some psychological injuries are classed as threshold injuries; others are not, depending on the diagnosis. Anxiety, low mood, flashbacks or fear of driving are worth raising with your GP early, both for your own sake and so the injury is recorded and properly diagnosed.
Read next:Psychological injury after a crash
What shows an injury is serious
Serious injury claims rest on medical evidence gathered over time: hospital records, imaging, operation reports, specialist opinions, and treating doctors' notes that track your progress. Your own records add the human detail. Start collecting early, keep everything in date order, and make sure each doctor knows about all your injuries, not just the one they're treating.
- Hospital admission and discharge records
- Operation and specialist reports
- Every Certificate of Fitness, in order
- Records of how the injury affects your work
Read next:Gathering medical evidence
Frequently asked questions
Tell every doctor about it, even if it seemed mild at first. A brain injury isn't a soft tissue injury, so a diagnosed brain injury is generally more than threshold. Symptoms such as headaches, memory problems, fatigue or changes in mood can take time to show and are easy to put down to stress. Record them, and ask your GP whether further review is needed.
Generally, yes, for the worsening the crash caused. A pre-existing condition, like arthritis or an old back injury, doesn't stop a claim, but the insurer may argue that some of your symptoms would have happened anyway. Clear evidence helps: records of how you were before the crash, and how you've been since. Tell your doctors about the earlier condition rather than leaving it out.
Generally, no. A threshold injury is generally a soft tissue injury, and a broken bone isn't soft tissue. So a fracture caused by the crash will usually take the injury beyond the threshold, although the insurer still decides on the medical evidence. If you have a fracture along with soft tissue injuries, make sure the fracture is clearly recorded on every certificate and report.
More than one person may. Your treating doctors can give opinions, the insurer may send you to a doctor it chooses, and where you and the insurer disagree about the degree of impairment, a medical assessor at the Personal Injury Commission can decide it. Timing matters as much as who: an assessment made before the injury has settled can understate it. To challenge an assessment, see the CTP claim denied page, and act quickly because the deadlines are short.
Usually, yes, because most whiplash is soft tissue injury to the neck. But not always. If a doctor finds nerve damage, or a full or partial tear of a tendon or ligament, the injury may be more than threshold. Symptoms like arm pain, numbness or weakness are worth describing to your doctor. The insurer decides on the medical evidence, and its decision can be reviewed.
Each injury matters. Your claim should list every injury the crash caused, and your doctors should record all of them, not just the worst. The threshold limits generally apply where all your injuries are threshold injuries, so one injury that is more than threshold can change the whole claim. How several injuries are rated for impairment is technical, so get advice if it matters to you.
Injury compensation lawyer: suburbs near Wollogorang
Related reading
- Whole person impairment
- Lump sum and damages claims
- When the insurer says threshold injury
- CTP damages claims
- Threshold disputes: a general guide
- Whiplash
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Chronic Pain After a Car Accident
- Sciatica and Nerve Pain
- Pre-Existing Condition Aggravation
- Goulburn & Southern Tablelands: area guide
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CTP Lawyer is not a law firm. This page is general information, not legal advice; the independent lawyer you speak with can advise on your own situation.