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(Chronic) whiplash injury
Whiplash injury occurs when your head or neck makes a sudden, forceful swinging motion. Your head is thrown forward and backward, causing the muscles in your neck and back to take a jolt.
In addition, this swinging movement can affect your nerves, vertebrae and joints.
Whiplash injuries are usually caused by a (hard) blow from behind. But they can also occur from the side or front, after a fall, or if you land on your head.
For most people, their whiplash symptoms disappear within a few weeks or months. But sometimes there's no recovery, and your whiplash becomes chronic. What then?
Chronic Whiplash
Statistically, 80% of people recover from their whiplash injury within 1 to 2 years.
Unfortunately, this also means that 1 in 5 people (20%) continue to experience chronic whiplash symptoms and limitations, despite multiple medical treatments.
You are often told that you just have to “learn to live with” your complaints, or even worse, that it may be “all in your head.”
The latter is definitely not true: it is simply a “hard” statistical fact that not everyone recovers from whiplash injury.
So anyone who suffers whiplash can eventually develop chronic whiplash. So it's not your fault!
And chronic whiplash not only disrupts your entire life, it also almost always has financial consequences for you.
If you suffered whiplash injuries due to someone else's negligence, it's logical that you injuries . This is usually done through their liability insurer.
You may already have someone to help you with your financial losses, or you may not. It's always wise to seek expert assistance in settling your whiplash injury, especially if it's chronic whiplash.
How can I help you?
Floris de Bruin
Commercial Director
Commercial Director
Common persistent complaints of whiplash
- neck pain
- back pain
- headache
- pain in the neck that radiates to the shoulders, arms and sometimes fingers
- tinnitus
- loss of strength in arms
- nausea
- concentration problems
- forgetfulness
- dizziness
- balance disorders
- hypersensitivity to light and sound
- difficulty with multitasking
- noise intolerance
- psychological complaints
- short-tempered, more easily irritated/angry
- structural fatigue.
Consequences of chronic whiplash
Chronic whiplash complaints disrupt your daily life, both at home, socially, and at work.
Far-reaching consequences of chronic whiplash include:
- persistent pain complaints and cognitive limitations
- permanent (partial) disability
- problems with self-care
- problems in the household and care of your family
- problems with work in, on and around your home
- limitations in your social life
- limitations in your hobbies and free time
- difficulty relaxing
- participation in traffic
- lack of understanding from your loved ones and/or environment.
This is not only distressing for you, but some restrictions can also have far-reaching financial consequences, especially when it comes to your income or necessary assistance. While you may not know what compensation you're actually entitled to or how to obtain it, you're not entirely sure.
If you have chronic whiplash, you really can't do without expert legal help. Engaging a specialized personal injury firm is therefore of paramount importance.
Therefore, always ask us for advice. Even if you already have a personal injury advocate , but you're wondering if you've chosen the right party.
Our advice is completely free of charge and without obligation. We're happy to take the time to discuss your personal injury claim, any potential next steps, and whether your interests are currently being served in the most expert manner.
If we believe that you would ultimately be better off with (our) legal assistance, we will inform you of this and tell you that our assistance completely free of charge . Even if you already have a legal representative.
Financial consequences of chronic whiplash injury
Chronic whiplash not only causes medical complaints, but also affects your daily life, social life and your work.
Chronic whiplash complaints almost always have financial consequences for you.
Consider additional costs, such as ongoing medical costs, costs of ongoing household help and support, as well as loss of income in the event of disability.
Because chronic whiplash injury causes permanent symptoms, your financial damage will also be permanent.
If your whiplash injury was caused by someone else's fault, it is logical that you want to be compensated for your financial losses.
Sometimes you're also entitled to compensation if your whiplash injury was your own fault, or if you believe it was your own fault.
But in both cases, you'll be dealing with an insurer as a professional counterparty. And with chronic whiplash complaints, you'll quickly realize that the insurer views your personal injury claim very differently than you do.
In fact, if you don't have a highly specialized attorney , you even run the risk that your attorney will quickly accept the insurer's position. This happens most often, by the way, if you have legal expenses insurance .
You might then be advised to accept a limited financial settlement that isn't, or isn't sufficiently, in your best interests. In that case, you'll sooner or later fall short of your compensation, with all the (financial) consequences that entails.
Do you have chronic whiplash symptoms and questions about the financial aspects of your personal injury claim? In any case, ask us for advice. Even if you are unsure whether you are still in the right place with your current representative.
It's free and there's no obligation on your part. We can almost always tell you – based solely on your personal story – what your financial situation is, whether your personal injury claim is currently being settled properly, and whether the current approach is the right one.
If we believe it's in your best interest to seek legal assistance after all, or to switch legal representatives, we'll let you know, and we'll let you know that our assistance will be completely free of charge.
People choose us because:
- 15,000+ victims helped
- Customer rating of 9+
- The specialist in chronic whiplash and personal injury
- The most involved personal injury law firm in the Netherlands
Causes of chronic whiplash injury
Whiplash injuries and chronic whiplash complaints can arise in several ways, usually after a collision, but also due to "other causes".
The most common causes that can lead to whiplash are:
- car accident
- collision on a scooter, moped or light motorcycle
- as a passenger or you were sitting on the back
- accident bicycle
- motorcycle accident
- collision with an animal (dog or crossing wildlife)
- collision in public transport
- Industrial accident
- Aggression by patients
- Slipping, tripping or falling
- Bad road
- Behavior of an animal.
Each of the causes mentioned above has its own "legal peculiarities." Sometimes it's relatively easy to qualify for compensation, and sometimes it's very difficult.
Liability for whiplash
If your chronic whiplash was caused by someone else's fault, you are in principle always entitled to compensation.
Sometimes you are also entitled to compensation if the accident was (partly) your own fault.
For example, as a pedestrian or cyclist, as a passenger or on the back, if there is special SVI insurance or SVO insurance, after an industrial accident or if the accident was caused by the behaviour of an animal.
Despite chronic whiplash complaints, have you not yet done anything to claim compensation? Or does the other party refuse to acknowledge liability?
In any case, ask us for advicefor you free of charge. Almost always, based purely on your own story, we can tell you whether you are entitled to compensation and how best to proceed.
Compensation amount for chronic whiplash
Expenses, reimbursements for assistance and informal care
- transportation costs related to medical treatments, etc.
- other additional travel expenses
- costs of nursing and care, domestic help and other (family) assistance
- compensation for informal care
- deductible health insurance
- not (fully) reimbursed medical treatments
- personal contributions for medical treatments and medication
- costs of resources and adjustments
- maintenance costs in and on your home and garden maintenance
- all other costs related to your chronic whiplash injury
Loss of income
- you are only paid 70%
- You are a temporary employee and are immediately entitled to sickness benefits with a maximum of 70% of your salary
- you have a zero-hours contract and are no longer called up and paid
- you have an on-call contract and are no longer called up (extra)
- your annual contract will not be extended
- you are dismissed during your probationary period
- you miss overtime, irregular hours allowance or extra scheduled working days
- you receive no or less profit sharing, a bonus, a profit share or other gratifications
- time-for-time build-up is eliminated
- you are no longer eligible for a promotion to a higher position and/or salary scale
- you become eligible for WIA or WW benefits, with only 70% of your income
- you are missing out on pension accrual
- Due to your chronic whiplash complaints, you have to repeat (part of) your academic year, with all the additional costs that entails
- Due to your chronic whiplash injury, you will be returning to the job market (part of) a year later and will therefore miss out on salary.
Determining damage items one by one
Your financial loss will have to be determined on the basis of these “damage items”, both in the interim and later in a more definitive sense.
That's quite complicated for you as a "novice" in the field of personal injury. And with chronic whiplash, the other party almost always has a very different opinion about these damages than you do. So what?
Long-term personal injury
In the case of chronic whiplash, you are financially dependent for an extended period on the compensation your opposing party is required to pay. Because your chronic whiplash injury is permanent, you need your compensation all the more for a secure financial future.
Asking for advice is always helpful:
We know better than anyone that determining personal injury damages in cases of chronic whiplash is quite complicated. The “average personal injury victim” usually cannot do this themselves.
We therefore always recommend seeking legal assistance.
You should also consider switching to a more specialized personal injury agencyif you have doubts about the approach of your current advocate.
Only then can you be sure you'll get what you're entitled to: fair and maximum compensation!
In any case, ask for no-obligation advice. That can never hurt. Together, we can discuss in detail how and “what”.
More information about whiplash?
Compensation for non-pecuniary damage in case of chronic whiplash injury
In case of chronic whiplash complaints, you are always entitled to compensation for pain and suffering.
Pain and suffering compensation is financial compensation for your non-material damage, such as persistent pain, grief, and permanently diminished enjoyment of life. Pain and suffering compensation is regulated by law in Article 6:106 of the Dutch Civil Code.
Of course, your psychological damage will never be compensated with money. Especially not in the Netherlands, where compensation amounts—especially for chronic whiplash injuries—are very low compared to neighboring countries. In fact, they're "unfairly" low!
However, this compensation for non-material damage can help you in a certain sense, because it may make you feel better heard and understood by the liable party.
Although sometimes it may feel counter-productive – given the limited amount of compensation for pain and suffering in the case of chronic whiplash complaints – it could also have an adverse effect on you.
Insurers and whiplash: don't be fobbed off
Chronic whiplash always causes lasting financial damage. Your insurer must compensate you for your damages.
If the financial damage from whiplash injury is limited to a few hundred or thousands of euros, the liable insurer will not make a fuss about it.
The situation is different if you continue to have chronic whiplash complaints, therefore requiring continued household help and continuing to suffer loss of income because you have become (partially) incapacitated for work.
Because your financial losses will be and remain significant, your opponent will always discuss the nature and severity of your chronic whiplash injury with you. This is purely to limit the compensation you will receive.
In any case, the liable insurer will question the medical relationship (medical causality) between your chronic whiplash complaints and the accident itself.
In addition, your opponent will always state that your complaints:
- cannot be medically objectified (and therefore, in the eyes of the insurer, cannot exist or can only exist for a short time)
- could also have been caused by other factors (for example, by stating that many people in the Netherlands have neck complaints without having had an accident)
- You already had similar complaints before the accident and your whiplash injury cannot therefore have been caused by the accident
- could not have been caused by the collision, because the collision was not fast enough to cause whiplash injury (for example, if the speed difference was small or there was hardly any vehicle damage).
If whiplash injury is chronic, the liable insurer will always cite these reasons to avoid its obligation to pay compensation.
Need for legal help with chronic whiplash
Your insurer's standard refusals to pay your damages, or to pay only part of them, are not only unfair, but also legally flawed. Don't let an insurer try the same with you!
Obtain specialized legal assistance and be prepared to question your current advocate or legal expenses insurer if they don't feel they're providing the right support, or if you feel they're actually agreeing with the other party.
If liability is acknowledged, legal assistance will cost you nothing. Your legal costs must also be reimbursed by the other party, separately from your own compensation claim and even if you change your legal representative.
If in doubt, always seek advice. It never hurts. Our advice is completely free and without obligation. Together, we'll discuss whether your opponent's arguments are correct and what your best course of action should be.
Legal assistance always 100% free
by law that your opposing party must also reimburse your legal costs (read: our costs). Separate from your own compensation for damages. This makes our assistance completely free of charge.
This also applies if you change your legal representative or leave your legal expenses insurer “in the meantime”.
If we both agree that it would be better for you if we continued to assist you, we will immediately provide you with a written cost guarantee.
It states that if the other party unexpectedly fails to reimburse our costs, or only partially, we assume that risk. In that case, you won't receive an invoice from us. Pretty safe, right?
Always ask for advice
Without advice and legal assistance from a specialized personal injury firm, a lot can go wrong when settling your claim for chronic whiplash injuries. And you might not receive the compensation you're actually entitled to!
So, always ask for advice. It's free and without obligation. We'll take the time to discuss with you whether the positions of your opponent or current representative are correct and what your best course of action should be.
Do we think you would be better off with our legal assistance? Then you will be informed of this, and we guarantee you in writing beforehand that our assistance will be 100% free of charge for you. Even if you “switch” advocates.
For direct contact, please call us or send us a WhatsApp message. If you'd rather tell us what happened and what your questions are, you can also email us or fill out the form on our website. Whatever suits you best. We'll take the time to listen to you, and you'll receive honest, clear, and above all, expert advice. We promise!
How can I help you?
Floris de Bruin
Commercial Director
Commercial Director
Curious about your chances?
About the author
The information on this page was written by Floris de Bruin, a specialist in liability and personal injury. The content of this page fully complies with the requirements of the National Quality Mark for Personal Injury (NKL).
What customers ask
Is your help really free for me?
Absolutely, our help is truly FREE.
Your counterparty is also obligated to reimburse your legal costs (i.e., our firm's fees). This is stipulated by law (Section 6:96 of the Dutch Civil Code).
upfront written cost guarantee with a clear explanation. This also clearly states what you can expect from us and what we can expect from you.
We guarantee that the liable party will reimburse our costs. If they don't, it's our business risk. You'll never receive a bill from us. We promise!
Still unsure? Just contact us. We'd be happy to explain how our cost guarantee works.
If you'd like to learn more about our FREE personal injury assistance, click here. Clarity is paramount!
When can I claim personal injury damages?
You can claim damages for personal injury due to the fault of another person injury (been injured)
Personal injury can be caused by, for example:
In addition, you may think of injuries sustained during:
- organized trip
- unsafe product or
- fall at someone else's home, in a shop or on the street
It's best not to wait too long to file a personal injury claim. It's best to do so immediately after the accident.
Even if it is not yet clear at that time what your injury and its financial consequences consist of.
However, someone else must liable and must have taken out liability insurance for this (AVP/AVB/WA).
However, even if you caused the accident yourself, you can sometimes still claim compensation for personal injury. For example, if you SVI (Passenger Injury Insurance) or SVO (Opzittende Inschadende).
Are you unsure whether and when you are entitled to personal injury compensation?
Don't hesitate to contact us now for a free, no-obligation consultation. It's free , and you'll know exactly where you stand. Afterward, you can decide for yourself what to do with our advice.
What injuries do you treat?
We can actually help you with all types of personal injury
Van der Toorn Personal Injury can help you with all types of injuries. We specialize in handling "serious personal injuries," such as:
- brain injury (ABI)
- spinal cord injury
- burns
- dystrophy
- bone fractures and
- cosmetic injury.
But of course, we are also very happy to be there for you if someone else has sustained an injury. Such as neck injuries, whiplash, back injuries, bruises, sprains, dog bites, temporary injuries, and you name it.
We cannot help with all types of personal injury
The only thing we cannot help you with is personal injury caused by:
- violence
- medical errors and/or
- situations of abuse.
In that situation, we will of course refer you to a party that is specialized in this.
Always request free, no-obligation advice on personal injury claims
Do you have questions about your personal injury? Or are you unsure if we're the right place for you?
Please do not hesitate to ask us for a complete and free, no-obligation personal injury claim consultation.
When should I contact you?
You don't have to! But it's in your best interest to as soon as possible contact
Only then can you be certain that there is someone who thinks solely of your interests . Because that is our job: thinking of *your* interests.
But what is: as quickly as possible?
Sometimes an insurance company will contact you very shortly after the accident. They'll ask how you're doing and also ask for all sorts of other information.
You cannot know whether that insurer is asking “too many questions” from a legal perspective. About your health before the accident and which doctors you visited. You would rather avoid that, wouldn't you? So never wait too long to engage a personal injury firm.
It's also likely that you'll quickly incur significant expenses . Or your incomemay disappear. We'll handle the initial damage payments from the other party. Then you can focus on your recovery.
Would you like to know what's best for you? Don't hesitate to without obligation us
We'll give you right away advice clear. Then you can decide for yourself what to do with it.
If we think we can help you, we will let you know right away.
At the same time, we guarantee that our legal assistance completely free of charge .
To learn more about our FREE personal injury assistance services, click here.
What personal injury compensation amounts am I entitled to?
The personal injury compensation amounts you are entitled to are:
Allowances for additional assistance, such as:
- household help, shopping, taking children to school, etc.
- help in the garden and
- help with the maintenance and painting of your home.
In addition, your personal injury may have consequences for your income, such as:
- income that is not fully paid (self-employed person, temporary worker, zero-hour contract, etc.)
- no more irregular hours allowance
- no longer being able to work overtime
- missed promotions and
- missed pension accrual
Finally, you can consider other equally important personal injury compensation amounts, such as:
- Study delay
- Reintegration costs for guidance to other work
- Costs associated with admission to a hospital or rehabilitation center
- Travel expenses
- Medical expenses
- Non-pecuniary damages
- Economic vulnerability
- Statutory interest
- Furthermore, all costs that you would not have incurred without the accident…
- For example, the wages you did not receive because you could not go to work.
- Gasoline because you had to go to the hospital or the physiotherapist.
- Medicines that were covered by your deductible.
In addition, you are always entitled to compensation for pain and suffering, also known as non-material damages.
This is compensation for "loss of enjoyment of life." Your damages should compensate you for your grief, pain, and anything else that might have made you less happy than before the accident.
Unfortunately, Dutch law is not generous in awarding damages for pain and suffering. Therefore, the amounts awarded in the Netherlands are not considered "fair enough.".
If you'd like to learn more about non-pecuniary damages, click here. If you'd like to learn more about personal injury damages, click here.
Calculating non-pecuniary damages
Calculating non-pecuniary damages:
You are always entitled to compensation for pain and suffering. This is the "non-pecuniary component" of your personal injury compensation.
What is non-pecuniary damages?
Pain and suffering compensation is not in itself a “hard legal term”. It is compensation for damage that cannot be expressed in monetary terms.
So, everything that doesn't fall under additional costs or lost income. It's essentially compensation for your "mental damage.".
How to calculate non-pecuniary damages
People often ask us at the very beginning of their personal injury case how much compensation they are entitled to.
That question is actually impossible to answer. And any personal injury lawyer who claims otherwise is mistaken.
When can you calculate my non-pecuniary damages?
Your compensation for pain and suffering can only be definitively determined at the end of your personal injury case.
Only then will it be known what psychological consequences your injury has had and/or will have for you.
Because it is the psychological consequences that largely determine your compensation for non-pecuniary damages.
Important factors in calculating non-pecuniary damages
Important factors for calculating your non-pecuniary damages include:
- the nature of your injury
- the severity of your injury
- your age
- your gender
- your level of consciousness
- whether you will have permanent scars and where those scars are located
- whether you have physical limitations that affect your quality of life
- how much pain have you suffered and continue to suffer
- how long your recovery period was and
- whether you have recovered at all or whether there is permanent damage.
Indication calculation of non-pecuniary damages:
We cannot predict exactly how much your compensation for non-pecuniary damages will be.
What we can do is give you a general indication of the amount of your compensation for pain and suffering.
If this sounds appealing, contact us today for a free, honest consultation. Afterward, you can decide for yourself what to do with it.
We are happy to help you calculate and claim your compensation for pain and suffering and other personal injury damages, such as your additional costs and lost income.
And if you choose our legal assistance, we guarantee you in writing in advance that our assistance will always FREE .
Calculating non-pecuniary damages? Ask for advice! We're happy to help. Want to know more about calculating non-pecuniary damages? Click here.
Stories from the field
After the collision, we started having neck pain; we could no longer work..
It happened when I was driving to work with a colleague. Just on the highway, not even in a traffic jam. It was, of course, busy during the morning rush hour. We were going about 70 km/h. Someone behind us wasn't paying attention and crashed right into us. We didn't see it coming at all.
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