Recovering the cost of care for dependants

Whilst compensation from a mesothelioma claim can cover a wide range of medical and personal expenses, including ongoing care, it may not fully replicate the emotional and personal aspects of care given by a loved one. However, financial support can certainly go some way towards easing the transition in securing the care that is desperately needed.

When making a claim for dependency, the loss of care that the mesothelioma patient would have provided – had they not been diagnosed, and, tragically, passed away – must be assessed. This requires a detailed evaluation of what care the dependent needs now, as well as what they would have required in the future had the patient been able to continue to provide support.

The amount of compensation sought will vary greatly depending on the specifics of the case. Every situation is unique, and factors such as the nature and extent of care the dependent requires – and the care the patient would have been able to provide – must be considered in detail.

It is important to understand that the compensation should not be contingent on whether or not the service provided by the deceased has already been replaced. In other words, it doesn’t matter if the dependant has already arranged for paid care, reduced care, or care provided by family and friends. The purpose of the compensation is to account for the loss suffered by the dependant. This loss remains, regardless of how they have chosen to manage the practicalities of their situation.

When it comes to care for dependants, unique situations often arise. Partner Jennifer Seavor at RWK Goodman recently concluded a mesothelioma claim for Dai whose premature death due to mesothelioma financially impacted his dependant widow who resided in a nursing home. Details of the case are reported later in this edition of Airborne but, in brief, Dai’s widow had dementia and had lived in a nursing home prior to Dai’s diagnosis. He spent a lot of time with his wife, but he lived in their former marital home. When Dai was alive, the capital value of the house was not taken into account in the local authority’s assessment of nursing home fees.

However, when Dai sadly died, the property automatically passed to his widow, as did their savings. This meant his widow became liable for the full nursing home fees of £740 per week! Once her savings gradually fell below the capital threshold, she became entitled to some assistance but we anticipated that, once the house was sold and the legal claim concluded, the widow’s capital would increase, again taking her above the maximum capital threshold. We contended that Dai’s widow had a “a reasonable expectation of pecuniary advantage [in respect of nursing home fees] from the continuance of the life of the deceased”; and that, had Dai’s life not ended prematurely due to mesothelioma caused by the defendant’s negligence, his widow would not have been liable for the nursing home fees. On this basis we sought to recover damages for past and future dependency on nursing home fees which amounted to over £80,000. Whilst the claim concluded via negotiation rather than at a court hearing, we consider that we recovered damages for this head of loss, despite it being rejected by the defendant in principle.

The care needs of dependants and the financial claims associated with them can vary significantly depending on the unique circumstances of each mesothelioma case. The example above demonstrates the range of factors that must be considered when assessing compensation.

Ultimately, whilst each claim is individual, a mesothelioma compensation claim aims to put the dependant in the financial position they would have been in had the deceased not passed away. As such, the provision of care for dependants remains a crucial aspect of mesothelioma claims, ensuring that those affected receive the support they need during a profoundly difficult time.