How Do I Prove My Pain and Suffering?
Whether you’re dealing with an accident injury or an asbestos-related disease, you may be enduring physical pain, emotional distress, anguish, depression, or anxiety. These are all natural responses to your situation and would be considered damages that can be recovered.
Damages are losses or harm that can be measured in dollars in an insurance claim or lawsuit. They can include concrete things like expenses or lost earnings and less tangible things like pain and suffering. Damages are critical to your case’s settlement value and what a jury could award you. Without damages, you don’t have a case.
What is Pain and Suffering?
In the legal context, they are the physical, psychological, and emotional distress you experience due to the injury caused by the defendant (the party being sued).
How Do I Prove I Endured Pain and Suffering?
You, the plaintiff, have the burden of proving your damages. An insurance company, judge, or jury won’t just take your word for it. Although pain and suffering are not concrete, that doesn’t mean you won’t have evidence and testimony to prove it.
Medical Records
Medical records are essential because you didn’t create them, and they should be seen as impartial. Doctors, nurses, or other medical professionals should provide detailed information about your condition and the treatment you received. Records should include tests and scans used to diagnose you, document your progress, and your description of your physical pain and emotional status.
These records can be used by your physician and an outside medical expert who can testify that, given these types of injuries, a person would be expected to feel a given level of pain, discomfort, or anxiety. Insurance companies also use them to estimate your case’s settlement value.
Because they’re so important, you must do your best to ensure they’re accurate. When you speak with a healthcare professional, you may feel the need to engage in happy, small talk to get a conversation started. Maybe you want your doctor to feel positive about what’s happening and avoid sounding like a whiner. What you say may be written down. You must be truthful, but the more upbeat you sound, the less likely someone reading your records will think you’re in pain. Being honest is far more important than being chatty.
Videos
We may hire a production company to create a “day in the life” video of a client showing how they live their lives and their challenges and limitations. These videos can be compelling and show a jury what you’re dealing with. Sometimes, clients and their families may shoot similar videos. Though they’re not very polished, they can also tell your story.
Witness Testimony
Your treating physician can discuss your pain and suffering based on their observations and notes. Family and friends could also discuss how they witnessed your life before and after the accident, how pain limits you, and how you’ve described it.
Journal/Notes
Keeping a journal of your condition, life, and emotions can be very helpful. Over time, you may forget certain incidents or issues, and notes will help you remember. However, if we use our journals, they will be read by complete strangers, so there will be a loss of privacy.
How Might an Insurance Company Respond?
Depending on your situation and the evidence of your pain and suffering, an insurance company may claim you’re not injured or in pain or your injury and pain aren’t as bad as you claim.
They will have medical experts to review your records, and they may examine you. They may have the opinion you’ve been misdiagnosed, or your injury is limited, and you shouldn’t be in as much pain as you claim.
During a deposition or testimony, the insurance company will ask you, witnesses, your physician, and medical expert questions to try to discredit your statements about your pain and anguish.
The carrier may also use against you statements you made to others or on social media. You may discuss activities or show photos or videos of you doing things that would be difficult or impossible if you were as limited or experiencing the level of pain you claim. If you do that, you may have seriously damaged your case.
An insurer may hire private investigators to follow you to observe your activities and how well you’re living your life. They hope to find you fully living and enjoying your life, so your claims do not appear credible.
An important part of representing clients is preparing how an insurance company may defend a case and their tactics to try to dismiss it or limit your damages award. We thoroughly prepare our clients and witnesses so they know what to expect and respond truthfully in a way that will help the case move forward.
Speak With A Satterley & Kelley, PLLC Attorney About Your Claim
Our lawyers can answer your questions, address your concerns, and discuss how you may obtain compensation for your injury or illness. To learn more, contact our law offices online or by telephone toll-free at 855-385-9532. You can also visit our office in-person.