Many people have heard of the legal term “pain and suffering” but may not necessarily know how this correlates to a personal injury case.
From a legal perspective, there are two types of pain and suffering claims.
1. Physical Pain and Suffering
2. Mental Pain and Suffering
Let’s start with physical pain and suffering.
This term means the pain of the plaintiff’s actual physical injuries. It does not include the pain and discomfort endured but the detrimental effects they will likely suffer in the future due to the defendant’s negligence.
Next is mental pain and suffering.
This results from being physically injured, but it is more of a byproduct of those bodily injuries. This includes mental anger, anguish, anxiety, emotional distress, fear, humiliation, and lack of energy, among others. Mental pain and suffering is any negative emotion that an accident victim suffers due to having to endure the physical pain and trauma due to the accident.
Moreover, these emotions may also include anger, depression, loss of appetite, sexual dysfunction, and sleep disturbances. Severe mental pain and suffering includes posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Common Examples of Pain and Suffering
Minor pain and suffering: let’s say that a victim suffered a minor car accident and they had to wear a neck brace for six weeks. The victim that was hurt is a gym trainer. Now, this means that they cannot work but also can’t enjoy their physical exercises at home. As a result of the car accident, the injured victim could not work and enjoy their hobbies for several weeks; during this time, this also prevented them from attending a professional conference in Las Vegas.
As a result of missing the panel and not being able to work out physically, the claimant may be angry, depressed, frustrated, and overall unhappy. Although they don’t have mental health assistance for these specific emotions, these effects still qualify as mental pain and suffering.
Severe pain and suffering: hypothetically, someone got into a car accident that caused a severe concussion and multiple broken bones. As a result of the severe injuries, the claimant later became depressed, started to suffer from insomnia, and experienced a significant loss of appetite.
Due to these results, the claimant was referred to a psychologist and a therapist. Since the problems are directly related to the accident, the claimant is entitled to compensation for mental pain and suffering.
Contact Our Lawyer in Ohio for Pain and Suffering
If you’ve recently been injured in a car accident, at work, or have suffered a personal injury that has led to pain and suffering, it’s not too late to sue!
Get in touch with our experienced attorney, Mike Warren, at Warren Law Firm in Chillicothe. Our firm handles all types of pain and suffering cases, and we will fight to get you the maximum recovery!
Featured image thanks to Christian Erfurt. Inset image courtesy of Usman Yousaf.
