Much of the media has created a perception that pain & suffering compensation is the cash-cow of car crashes. Here’s how financial compensation for pain & suffering really works.
Fact or Fiction – You can make thousands of dollars off of a personal injury case.
Fiction – There are no guarantees on financial compensation because there are many variables that affect the outcome of personal injury cases. Insurance companies are responsible to pay what they decide is a reasonable amount to cover your medical expenses, property damage, and pain and suffering. Lawyers are responsible for making sure that the amount insurance companies deem reasonable, actually is reasonable. Medical bills being what they are, that could indeed equate to compensation in the thousands.
Fact or Fiction – You, as the injured party, are the only person who can decide how much you have suffered.
Fiction – While the pain and suffering you have endured cannot possibly equate to any amount of money, in the insurance world, it is quantifiable. That dollar amount is based on myriad factors that are specific to each individual case. There isn’t a formula, but these are a few variables that insurance companies and lawyers consider:
- The length of time you’ve been adversely affected by your injuries, and the areas of your life that were hindered as a result. What could you do before the auto accident that you cannot do, or have trouble doing, now?
- The amount and type of medical treatment required to diagnose and heal your injuries.
- The age, health, and even pain threshold of the injury victim.
- The type and severity of injury.
- The location of the injury, and any visible scarring.
Then there are the less tangible variables, which are why the “pain and suffering” calculators advertised on websites have such a high margin for error.
- Pain, stress, loss of enjoyment of life.
- Inability to do activities you enjoy.
- Inconvenience.
