A personal injury claim can be incredibly disruptive to your life. Not only do you need to focus on your recovery, but you may also be responsible for proving the extent of your injuries and damages to receive compensation. Proving non-economic damages, like pain and suffering, can be challenging and overwhelming.
If you are unsure how to prove pain and suffering to insurance companies or in court, a personal injury lawyer in Mobile, AL, can help. Call Jackson & Foster to learn how we can support you as you seek compensation.
What Are Pain and Suffering Damages?
During a personal injury case, injured people try to prove economic and non-economic damages to receive compensation. Economic damages include medical bills and car repairs; these expenses have receipts that help prove their economic value.
Non-economic damages can be difficult to prove. These damages almost always include “pain and suffering.” Pain and suffering damages might not come with receipts, but they can greatly decrease your quality of life. Knowing how to prove pain and suffering can be helpful as you seek compensation.
Physical Pain and Suffering
Physical pain and suffering damages cover any physical injuries you sustained and the subsequent pain and discomfort they caused you. Examples include:
- Physical discomfort as a result of the injury
- Chronic pain
- Facial injuries and scarring
- Paralysis
- Loss of vision or hearing
- Loss of limb(s)
- Any disabling impact of the injury
Physical pain and suffering also include any future pain due to the injury. For example, if your injury will cause degenerative disabilities in the future, you may factor those in as you pursue compensation.
Emotional Pain and Suffering
Emotional pain and suffering refers to the emotional distress caused by an injury or someone’s actions and may include:
- Loss of sleep and insomnia
- Panic attacks
- Depression
- Anger
- Mood swings or other emotional instability
- Loss of enjoyment in life
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
These symptoms can have drastic and, in some cases, lifelong impacts on a person’s life.
Ways To Prove Pain and Suffering
You may be confident you are experiencing physical or emotional trauma but are unsure of how to prove it. Under this circumstance, there are several steps you can take to prove your pain and suffering; a personal injury lawyer can help advise you on what pieces of evidence might help your case the most and assist you in gathering the documentation and speaking to any relevant parties.
Medical Documents
Records from medical professionals can be an effective way to prove your symptoms. Medical records provide unbiased documentation of the timeline and extent of your injuries.
Photo or Video Evidence
It may be helpful to take photos of any physical injuries. This can help you and your medical team track your healing over time and prove the physical impacts of injuries. Photos can be particularly helpful in proving any scarring or disfigurement you sustained from an accident.
Work Compensation Documents
If you try to prove lost wages, documents like pay stubs and letters from HR can be very helpful. While lost wages count as economic damages, these documents can also prove the emotional impact and severity of an injury. If you were in too much pain or suffering so much mentally that you could not complete your day-to-day routines, like going to work, that speaks to the severity of your pain and suffering.
Testimonies
Testimonies can also be a helpful way to prove the extent of your pain and suffering. Doctors and other medical professionals can provide a professional testimony detailing how they witnessed the injury impact you physically and emotionally.
Loved ones may also provide testimonies. They can speak to the impact the injury caused in your day-to-day life in a way that doctors don’t always see.
Personal Records
We recommend keeping a journal after sustaining an injury. This helps you track your emotional and physical state throughout recovery and can help prove the timeline and impact of any emotional distress resulting from an injury.
Proof of Lost Enjoyment
A common impact of pain and suffering is losing enjoyment in life. Any evidence that documents your loss of enjoyment can be very important in proving your suffering.
For example, if you quit a recreational sports league due to depression, you may have documentation like emails you sent to the coordinator. This type of evidence can help prove the emotional impacts of your injury.
Official Reports
If you filed any official reports, they can be crucial pieces of evidence. Examples include police reports after a traffic accident or official complaints you filed with the company on whose site a slip and fall occurred. These reports can indicate the seriousness and validity of your claim for pain and suffering.
A Professional Legal Team Can Help
If you are experiencing pain and suffering, sometimes, the last thing you want to do is gather and parse dozens of documents and put together a claim that proves just how much you are suffering. A professional attorney can help make this process easier.
Personal injury attorneys are experienced in handling cases that involve proving pain and suffering. With professional help, you can focus more of your time and energy where it helps the most: your recovery.
Contact an Experienced Attorney
Whether you are negotiating a car accident settlement or a slip-and-fall case outside of a local business, you will likely need to prove the extent of your injuries. Seeking non-economic damages for pain and suffering can be challenging.
An experienced personal injury attorney can share insights and best practices about how to prove pain and suffering to insurance adjusters as you navigate the settlement process. If you decide to seek legal action, an attorney can also help you navigate the legal process. Call Jackson & Foster to learn more today. We can answer your questions and explain your rights.
