Accidents and injuries are part of life, and
one must know how to deal with the recovery from pain and suffering, as well as
the financial burden left behind by medical bills. If you are injured because
of someone else's negligence, you may be able to pursue a personal injury claim
with the party at fault. In the United States, the financial burden left behind
from medical bills can be huge. This is why most liability insurance policies
may provide coverage upwards of $1 million. Most businesses that are at risk of
causing accidents have to have the right insurance coverage. So, if you are
hurt at work, there is leeway to get the proper compensation for your medical
bills to aid you in recovering from the loss of a loved one or a personal
injury.
How To Determine Pain & Suffering Damages
First, it is important to understand that "pain
and suffering" is a legal term, and it refers to injuries that one suffers as a
result of any accident. This includes third-party claims, workplace injuries,
and car accidents. It is important to understand that pain and suffering
encapsulates not just physical pain, but other not-so-obvious health damages,
such as emotional and mental issues that arise as a result of the accident.
Thus, things like fear, insomnia, grief, worry, and inconvenience can be
included under this category in your lawsuit.
For more information on how to get started
with a pain and suffering claim, it is recommended to check out
this website and to get the right
information on fighting against insurance companies. The experts agree that to
successfully proceed with a pain and suffering claim, it is very important to
establish who the at-fault party is. Then, you need to document any evidence from
the time the accident was caused to the time that you start your recovery. One
needs to gather photos, documents, witness accounts, medical receipts,
prescriptions, and doctor's testimony of your pain to proceed with a successful
claim against the defendant.
How Insurance Calculates Damages
There is no general rule as to which insurance
companies calculate pain and suffering damages. However, most attorneys use
general rules to get monetary values out of damages. The first method is to add
all of the plaintiff's actual damages, which include medical bills, lost wages,
prescriptions, and other direct expenses incurred as a result of the injury. Then,
that is multiplied by an inconvenience factor, which may range anywhere from 1
to 5. Therefore, if your total bills are $10,000, that could be multiplied by a
factor of 3, to account for pain and suffering, so the attorney would go after
$30,000 for compensation.
The other method used is a "per day" approach.
Therefore, from the time the accident occurred until the time that you have a
full recovery, a dollar value is assigned to each day—for example, $100 per
day.
Most insurance companies have their methods to
calculate pain and suffering. They have computer programs that determine what amount of
settlement should be offered.
The programs take into account the type of injury; type of treatment; average
recovery time from previous cases; how the injury impacts one's life, job, or
mental state; cost of medical treatment for that particular injury based on
previous cases; and the cost of future care, such as therapy, medications, and
surgeries. Based on these factors, the insurance company comes up with a
compensation package.
Proving Accident Damages
To successfully go through with any type of injury
claim, documentation is important. This includes
documents and written opinion from mental health experts that testifies to the
injured state of mind and whether it can be used for legal purposes, as well as
documented evidence from a medical doctor that testifies on the pain treatment
type and its longevity. It is also important to prove that the pain and
suffering were not there before the injury. Therefore, one must have previous
medical records showing that that person was healthy and not suffering from any
of the ailments that arose after an accident.
It is important to understand that it is in
the insurer's best interest to downplay your injuries, to compensate you as
little as possible. Hence, it is important to have an attorney by your side to
stick up for you during a stressful time. The main things to remember are to
find out the at-fault party; gather all evidence from witnesses, medical
experts, and other specialized experts; and to not forget that most accidents
may have delayed or everlasting negative symptoms on your health, so it is
important to settle for a lot more than your current medical expenses to be
covered down the road.
