Trinity Mirror’s chief executive has raised concerns that the compensation awarded to victims of phone hacking far outweighs the sum awarded for a death caused by wrongdoing.
Those affected by phone hacking have received damages for the impact the scandal has had on their lives.
Most recently Sadie Frost and Paul Gascoigne were given £260,250 and £188,250 respectively.
Bereavement award
Under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976, families who are lose a loved one as a result of personal injury or clinical negligence are given a statutory bereavement award.
Currently this stands at just £12,980.
Furthermore, a bereavement award can only be claimed by certain members of the family, including the partner of the deceased.
Children and siblings are rarely entitled to the award, and parents can only receive it if the child was an unmarried minor.
“Is it right…?”
Simon Frost, chief executive of the newspaper group Trinity Mirror, has questioned how a loss of privacy can be more valuable than a life.
He compared the sums received by phone hacking victims to the case of Neil Shepherd and Sharon Wood, whose two children died at a hotel in Corfu due to a faulty boiler. They received £350,000 – effectively £175,000 for each child.
“Is it right that for hacking infringements someone should get close to that?” he asked.
Another example is an elderly woman who died from sepsis at Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales.
An ombudsman recently found that the care she received was inadequate and did not follow guidelines.
Nevertheless, her family was awarded just £4,000 compensation. This is intended to reflect the damages they have been caused.
Expert legal advice
To find out how much compensation you could receive for a clinical negligence claim, please get in touch with us today.
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