Following a personal injury incident, a victim can suffer damages which are losses associated with the incident. Most losses that people look to first are economic losses, such as medical bills, lost wages, and property damages. However, personal injury victims can also suffer non-economic damages, such as mental anguish, loss of consortium, loss of enjoyment of life, and pain and suffering damages. These intangible losses have to do with how the personal injury incident affected your standard of living.
One of the most types of non-economic damages is pain and suffering damages, which have to do with the physical and emotional suffering you have to deal with regularly. Calculating pain and suffering damages can be difficult, as there is no bill or charge you can point to. A personal injury lawyer can help you assess your pain and suffering damages and calculate how you may suffer in the future due to severe injuries.
What are Pain and Suffering Damages?
A personal injury victim can suffer pain and suffering in the aftermath of a traumatic personal injury incident. This refers to the physical and emotional pain, anguish, trauma, and suffering a personal injury victim has to experience for the days, weeks, months, and years after the personal injury incident.
Physical injuries, such as traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), broken bones, and knee injuries, can cause painful symptoms that can make everyday activities difficult. While medical bills for these injuries are economic damages, you can pursue pain and suffering for the physical toll the injuries have taken on your body.
Personal injury incidents can also cause emotional pain and suffering that you can pursue compensation for. These traumatic incidents can result in emotional suffering in the form of fear, grief, anger, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). You can receive compensation for the emotional burden and diminishment of quality of life the personal injury incident caused.
What Personal Injury Incidents Can Cause Pain and Suffering?
You can suffer pain and suffering from any personal injury incident that causes harm. Personal injury incidents can cause severe injuries, whose symptoms and complications can result in pain as you live your life. The impact of the personal injury incident can also cause mental anguish and result in emotional pain and suffering.
The following are some of the personal injury incidents that can cause pain and suffering:
- Car accidents
- Trucking accidents
- Bicycle accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Bus accidents
- Boating accidents
- Slip and fall accidents
- Medical malpractice
- Product liability
- Lyft accidents
- Defective drugs
- Defective medical devices
- Social media harm
- Nursing home abuse
- Premise liability
A personal injury lawyer with specific experience in the above personal injury incidents can help you calculate pain and suffering damages. If you were involved in a personal injury incident, contact a local personal injury lawyer to see how they can help you file a personal injury claim and pursue compensation for pain and suffering damages.
How Much Compensation Can You Receive for Pain and Suffering?
The cost of your pain and suffering damages has to down with the severity of your injuries that cause the pain and suffering. Personal injury claims involve negotiations between your personal injury attorney and the at-fault party’s insurance company. They will negotiate a fair value for your pain and suffering based on what injuries you suffered and how your life has been affected.
The following are two methods used to calculate the cost of pain and suffering damages:
- Multiplier method: This involves multiplying your economic damages by a factor from one to five, depending on the severity of your injuries.
- Per Diem method: This involves using a daily pain and suffering calculator, with you receiving compensation for pain and suffering every day from the time you incurred the injuries until the day of maximum medical improvement.
Proving Pain and Suffering
To recover compensation for pain and suffering damages, you must be able to prove that the personal injury incident caused pain and suffering. Part of proving it is establishing that the at-fault party shares liability for the personal injury incident because they breached a duty of care and caused harm. You must also prove that the personal injury incident caused you to have to suffer from physical pain and emotional anguish.
The following is some of the evidence that can help to prove you suffered pain and suffering because of a personal injury incident:
- Medical records
- Police reports
- Written opinions of medical experts
- Photographic evidence
- Notes from your healthcare professional, doctor, or therapist
- Personal journal entries detailing your pain and suffering
How Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Help You Recover Compensation for Pain and Suffering?
A personal injury lawyer can assist with calculating your pain and suffering damages. They’ll help you negotiate a settlement to receive compensation. It can be difficult to come up with an accurate monetary value reflecting how much pain and suffering you experienced. A personal injury attorney can contact medical experts to determine how much you are likely to suffer over the course of your life. They’ll come up with an accurate assessment of your pain and suffering damages.
They can also help negotiate the settlement with the at-fault party’s insurance company, which will try to deny, delay, or devalue your settlement. Insurers try to avoid paying economic damages with clear economic value, so you can imagine how they try to contest non-economic damages like pain and suffering. An experienced personal injury attorney has likely had to deal with attempts to limit a client’s settlement before and can combat these attempts to secure fair compensation for your pain and suffering.
Contact The Russo Firm for Help With Recovering Pain and Suffering
The personal injury lawyers at The Russo Firm can assist you with calculating your pain and suffering damages. Our personal injury lawyers will speak to medical experts and healthcare professionals. Together, we’ll determine how your severe injuries can affect your life long term. They will use information gained from these meanings to get a more accurate value for your pain and suffering damages. This can help you recover fair compensation for the full cost of your personal injury damages.
The Russo Firm offers free consultations to personal injury victims to see how our lawyers can help with their cases. Contact The Russo Firm today for a free consultation at (561) 270-0913 or leave a message on our online contact page.
