What Qualifies as Pain and Suffering in a Personal Injury Case?
Pain and suffering are two terms you hear if and when someone is injured. However, have you ever wondered what qualifies as pain and suffering in a personal injury case?
It’s interesting to know that pain and suffering are a single term. It’s used in the legal field to describe the physical and emotional injuries a victim goes through after an accident.
And the good news is that you can include pain and suffering in your compensation claim. You can even claim compensation for a wrongful death, where the victim dies from a personal injury because of someone else’s negligence.
What Are Physical Pain and Suffering?
The injuries incurred by someone else’s negligence are undoubtedly painful due to an accident.
However, the injuries can sometimes be permanent or chronic, lasting weeks, months, and years in addition to the pain. These physical injuries, in turn, leave you in constant pain, suffering, and discomfort for such long periods.
Examples of applicable medical conditions applicable include:
- Neck or back pain
- Nerve damage
- Headaches
- Internal organ damage
- Brain injury and trauma
- Sprained muscles or broken bones
- Dislocations
- Paralysis
What Are Emotional Pain and Suffering?
It’s not just the physical pain that’s difficult after an accident. Any emotional pain and suffering you go through results in severe mental and psychological distress.
And to make things worse, the mental anguish can at times last for months or years, leading to consequent debilitating pain and suffering. Some examples of chronic emotional pain and suffering personal injury victims go through include:
- Fear and worry
- Difficulty sleeping
- Mental anguish or trauma
- Misery
- Fury and frustration
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Head or brain injuries with cognitive effects
- An uncomfortable life
What Is Loss of Consortium?
Accidents leading to the victim’s death lead to an entirely different type of pain and suffering called loss of consortium. However, it is the pain and suffering the family experiences after the end of their loved one.
In this case, the family can claim a wrongful death against the negligent person for their actions leading to the victim’s death. The family can claim compensation for the victim’s medical bills and lost wages, in addition to the loss of consortium.
Examples of loss of consortium include the loss of:
- Parental guidance
- Companionship
- Care
- Love and affection
- Spousal intimacy
- Household services
Calculating Pain and Suffering
With each personal injury case being unique, your Glendale personal injury lawyer is the best person to calculate pain and suffering. Depending on the case, they make calculations taking into consideration various factors like:
- The total damages incurred
- The severity of the injury
- The number of days the victim takes to reach maximum recovery in medical terms from the accident day
How to Prove Pain and Suffering
You need the proper documents and evidence to support your physical or emotional trauma and suffering claim. The necessary evidence includes:
- Photographs
- Records of the victim’s journey
- Medical evidence and proof
- Doctor’s and/or therapist’s notes
- You can build a more substantial claim if you have sufficient proof proving the pain and suffering of the injury.
- The evidence shows the insurance company, judge, and jury the extent of the accident’s pain and suffering on the victim’s life.
However, you may not be able to collect all this evidence on your own for mental and health reasons. This is where and when hiring a personal injury lawyer in Glendale will help.
They will collect the relevant evidence to prove your case while you focus on recovering. They will help you receive the rightful compensation for all the pain and suffering you went through because of the accident.