Car accident claim

[treenybean]

Hi all,

I'm new to this site and need some advice if possible. My 75 year old father in law had a whipple operation last Summer and seemed to be recovering very well until he and mum in law were involved in a car accident this March. They were hit from behind whilst stationery and their car was written off, Mum was thrown up and forward then back down resulting in three broken vertebrae and Pa was thrown very forcibly forward into the steering wheel as his seat belt didn't hold and the seat also ran forward on its runners. In the first week or so he seemed to be coping quite well and after looking after Mum but after a couple of weeks he began feeling quite ill, he had a scan which showed nothing at that time. He began to get more and more tired and was experiencing a lot of pain at times, one specialist said he was riddled with cancer and had a very short time to live, (as you can imagine this was quite a shock as we all thought he was recovering really well) another said there was none showing up at all, he had to have his stomach drained every 3 or 4 weeks and apparently the fluid had no cancer in it either or in his blood. He got weaker and weaker until he agreed to be admitted to hospital where his treatment was just awful, he did spend his last 3 days in a wonderful hospice where the care was just fantastic and the family was all able to be with him until the end. The Doctor at the Hospice said that he had bowel cancer and lymph cancer.

We are trying to sort out the insurance claim from the accident and inevitably the solicitors are dragging their heels. I have informed them of Pa's death and the claim has now been passed on to someone else within the Company. We do believe that Pa's death was brought on much sooner (3 months after the accident) or even because of the trauma of the accident (the knock to his stomach) but don't know whether to pursue this as it will complicate matters even more. We have no evidence to support this other than nurses and doctors having said that trauma and stress can bring on the cancer quicker. Mum's life has been turned upside down because of the accident, she now has to move homes as she cannot manage the stairs, cannot sleep in a bed, do any household chores or even walk further than a few yards due to the pain in her back. She has to wear a frame to try to keep her upright and allow the bones to mend. This is all on top of losing her husband of 50+ years.

I suppose I just want some advice as to whether to even mention the accident being one of the causes of his early death or would it just be wasting time as far as the insurance claim goes?

Thanks to anyone who's still reading at this point!