What is Pain and Suffering in Personal Injury Law?

The term “pain and suffering” is used in personal injury law to describe immense physical or emotional harm caused by an accident.

Pain and suffering is a form of non-economic damage you may file for in any negligent accident that causes significant physical or emotional harm. This includes cases not limited to:

• Auto accidents
• Burn injuries
• Employment violations

Consider having a personal injury attorney by your side so you know your rights and what you’re entitled to after your accident. Your pain and suffering settlement depends on your evidence and how you defend it.

If your pain and suffering disrupts your daily life and was due to negligence, you may qualify for compensation.

What is Considered Pain and Suffering?

Pain and suffering can apply to a variety of personal injury lawsuits where lasting trauma was inflicted on a victim.

This trauma can manifest through chronic pain from a long-lasting physical injury, so painful it leaves you out of work.

It can come from psychological trauma so severe it develops into post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Usually pain and suffering is divided into two types in personal injury law:

• Physical pain and suffering
• Emotional pain and suffering

Any long-lasting, debilitating physical or emotional trauma can be considered pain and suffering as long as it was the result of negligence.

Physical Pain and Suffering

Negligent accidents have the capacity to inflict pain that can be felt for days, weeks, even years at a time. This is especially true for cases involving gross negligence and reckless conduct.

Physical pain and suffering refers to any substantial pain resulting from the following:

• Injuries from the initial accident
• Medical procedures (surgery, prescription medication, etc.) used to recover from such injuries
• Day-to-day chronic pain from the recovery process

Certain examples of physical pain and suffering lasting for more than the initial accident are more common than others:

• Aches from whiplash caused by a car accident
• A herniated disc from a spinal cord injury
• Repeated headaches caused by a traumatic brain injury

Always keep evidence of physical pain and suffering if you want to include such damages in your lawsuit. It may be easier to prove such damages compared to mental pain and suffering through proper documentation.

Emotional Pain and Suffering

The emotional toll from an accident may be even more damaging than the physical pain itself. This damage takes the form of emotional pain and suffering, and this pain may be compensable under personal injury law.

Sometimes mental injuries are directly linked to adverse physical effects, such as insomnia, headaches, or intense fatigue.

The internal turmoil from emotional pain and suffering may be compensable by itself, even without physical symptoms.

Loss of Consortium

Intense grief and mental anguish may be felt by loved ones if an intense and traumatizing accident occurs. This grief is known as loss of consortium, and it’s considered a form of emotional pain and suffering.

The effects of loss of consortium can be felt in the following ways:

• Loss of companionship
• Loss of care for dependents
• Loss of intimacy

The emotional pain and suffering from loss of consortium only increases if wrongful death is involved. Dependents may not receive the care they need if their guardian passes away from an accident.

Emotional Distress

If your emotional pain and suffering was so intense that no reasonable person could endure it, you may have a claim for emotional distress. This type of claim is not just hurt feelings, but severe mental harm that often coincides with physical symptoms like:

• Unreasonable weight loss or gain
• Uncontrollable crying
• Sexual difficulties

It may be hard to prove emotional distress as the definition of severe mental harm varies state-by-state. Proving malice behind your accident or whether you were in a zone of danger makes this claim easier to prove.

Examples of Pain and Suffering Lawsuits in Personal Injury

Pain and suffering can apply to a variety of personal injury cases. For instance, if a victim suffered a second-degree burn injury on their face, they may qualify for pain and suffering due to the scarring left behind after recovery.

Another example of pain and suffering potentially coming into play are cases of defamation. The direct, malicious attack against one’s character may leave unbearable trauma that can last for years.

If you felt intense physical or mental trauma that directly resulted from an accident, pain and suffering may apply to your case.

How to Calculate Pain and Suffering in a Personal Injury Case

A pain and suffering lawsuit is inherently subjective, meaning there’s no fixed system to calculate damages. However, personal injury attorneys have two formulas they use to estimate how much pain and suffering is worth:

• The Multiplier Method
• The Per Diem Method

Although there’s no limit to how much you can sue for pain and suffering, your actual payout may be limited by your insurance policy limits. Certain types of cases, such as medical malpractice claims, may limit non-economic damages by a certain amount.

Multiplier Method

The multiplier method of calculating pain and suffering adds all of your economic damages (hospital bills, lost wages, etc.) and multiplies the total by a number between 1-5.

Attorneys choose the multiplier amount depending on the injury’s severity, low for minor injuries, high for life-threatening conditions.

Per Diem Method

Another method to calculate pain and suffering is the per diem method. This calculation assigns a specific dollar value every day a victim suffers an injury until they reach maximum medical improvement.

They start adding on the day of the accident until a medical professional sees their injury cannot recover any longer.

How Can You Prove Pain and Suffering in Your Case?

The main thing you should prove to support a pain and suffering case is the severity of your injury. This involves gathering hard evidence such as:

• Medical documents proving the pain and suffering started due to the accident
• Testimonies from doctors, therapists, or healthcare providers showing the severity of your injury
• Photos or personal journals detailing the pain and suffering you’re experiencing

The more hard evidence you provide, the higher the chances you’ll receive a large enough settlement to cover your pain and suffering.

Pain and Suffering Due to Negligence? Find an Attorney.

The best way to start your pain and suffering lawsuit is by hiring a personal injury attorney by your side.

There’s a misconception that attorneys are expensive to hire, but LegalASAP’s attorney network operates under contingency fees. This means you pay nothing upfront until you win your settlement, and in the off-chance you lose, you pay nothing.

To start your FREE consultation, fill out this short evaluation form or call 1-888-927-3080 to speak to our representatives directly.

Pain and suffering may be hard to prove yourself, but with an attorney to organize your case, proper compensation may be on the horizon.