Pain & Suffering Damages in a Personal Injury Claim

Pain and suffering is the term used to describe the combination of physical pain and emotional anguish that follows a personal injury.

Injured parties may seek to recover non-economic compensation for the intangible losses like physical pain, emotional harm, and lasting impact caused by a negligent party.

Damages of this type exist within the law to allow an injured party to seek recovery in personal injury cases for all the subjective impacts of injury beyond medical bills and lost wages.

High-value pain and suffering claims require serious injury, documented medical proof, and experienced legal advocacy that can present the full human impact of the harm.

The purpose of claiming personal injury damages is to recover an amount that will compensate you, the plaintiff, for the intagible losses suffered outside of your medical bills and property losses.

If you have questions about a potential case, contact the personal injury lawyers at Lawsuit Legal to discuss the specific details of your case to learn your legal options for compensation.

Pain and suffering damages apply across most personal injury cases depending on the severity of injury, jurisdiction, and nature of the case. You may have a pain and suffering claim when another party's negligence causes physical injury that leads to ongoing pain, emotional distress, or lasting disruption to your daily life.

Personal injury cases related to the following incidents are more likely than some others to involve these damages:

Vehicular Accidents
Whether it involves a car, truck, or motorbike, vehicular accidents can be catastrophic. If you have been injured in a car accident, you may be looking at the potential of many long-term injuries, including those that involve the spine, skeletal system, or nerves. Recovering from these accidents can take months or years and permanently diminish professional prospects.

Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice can easily be deadly, but when it’s not, it can result in long-term damage to the body and mind. Improper or improperly performed procedures can result in organ damage, permanent loss of function, penalization, and even death.

Defective Products & Unsafe Properties
Defective products are capable of not only causing injury themselves but of creating situations where injuries are likely when they don’t work as advertised. Manufacturing safety products, such as railings, pressure valves, and fire control equipment, for example, can cause catastrophic injuries when simply failing to operate at all. This is not a complete list of cases where pain and suffering may be a factor.

When juries award pain and suffering damages, the amount awarded may depend on the presence or severity of one of these factors or a combination of them.

What are Considered Factors in Pain and Suffering Claims?

• The severity of your injuries and anguish suffered
• How much pain, inconvenience, and other discomfort results from the injuries
• The impact of your injuries on your life
• The impact of the injuries on your social status and relationships
• The impact of the injuries on your career prospects
• The time it is expected to take for the injuries to heal
• The necessity of ongoing therapy or psychological care
• The necessity of care in the future, including prescriptions, future operations

Here are some of the more detailed examples of injuries, conditions, and painful obligations that may be considered answerable with a claim:

Medical procedures and recovery:    Even medical treatments that are successful can be painful to go through. For example, physical therapy requires pushing past the pain to rebuild flexibility for possibly months or years on end. The amount of pain you experience may be calculated into your award.

Long-term or permanent pain:    Not all medical conditions can be fully healed. Some may have to be treated with pain medication for the rest of your life. You may be able to claim damages based not only on the pain you’ve experienced but on the cost you must now be expected to pay to manage your pain.

Injury that results in occupational impairment:    Not all career paths are possible again after an injury. Professional athletes, drivers and anyone who relies on vision, reflexes or standing physical labor may permanently lose the possibility for career advancement after an injury. The loss of professional capacity can be considered a factor in the award.

Post-accident trauma (PTSD):    Mental anguish can take many forms. PTSD is one example of a long-term condition that happens commonly in accidents and may affect the mental health of plaintiffs for as long as their entire lives. The need for long-term therapy and the related expenses can be used as a factor in valuing awards.

Social isolation:    As a result of an injury, someone can be left isolated from their network of friends and professional connections. This can happen because the combination of medical recovery and prescription side effects can make socializing properly impossible. When this results in depression, alienation, or even a loss of social status, it may become a factor in the award.

Lack of consortium and other injuries that affect quality of life:    Some injuries that seriously inhibit quality of life may be considered a factor in awards. Injuries that result in an inability to have sex can be devastating to existing marriages or other relationships and may be factored more heavily as a result.

While it’s one thing to make these claims of damage, it’s another thing to manage to win the case so that the award can be assigned.

Our injury lawyers know exactly what it takes to win the settlement you deserve. Don't gamble with your future after a severe injury, contact Lawsuit Legal for the legal help you need.

The total value of a personal injury claim is determined by combining economic damages like medical costs and lost income with non-economic damages such as pain and suffering, and loss of quality of life.

An experienced personal injury attorney will help ensure all compensable damages are calculated, combined, and pursued through settlement negotiations or litigation.

Different Types of Damages in a Personal Injury Case

Economic: These damages can be calculated the most easily because they have accountable cash values associated with them. For example, the amount that you paid in medical bills or the dollar value of the wages you lost while injured would both be considered economic damages. Depending on the type of accident, this may also include associated property damage.

Non-Economic: Non-economic damages are the intangible impacts of the injuries suffered by the victim. These damages reflect the subjective injuries like pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of quality of life that may diminish the victim's well-being but are hard to quantify into a dollar amount.