Quantifying Pain and Suffering
Posted Wednesday, April 8, 2015 by Chris Thayer
Seattle Personal Injury Lawyers on Establishing the Legitimacy of Pain
Pain and suffering is a legitimate, established and well-recognized component of potential damages in a personal injury lawsuit. Nonetheless, it is not unusual for defense medical experts to attempt to minimize the actual pain the victim reports. Experienced personal injury lawyers understand this tactic and will work towards establishing the exact nature and level of the pain.
The Defense Tactics
Although pain is subjective in nature, there are several medically established pain scales by which an individual is asked to assess his or her pain. Unfortunately, some defense medical experts never administer such tests. Another approach the defense may take is to allege the injured victim is exaggerating or faking the pain. Alternatively, the defense may acknowledge that the person’s injury did in fact cause some pain but contend it should be not as severe as reported or the injury should be healed and no longer causing pain.
Your Injury Lawyer’s Approach
Based on the specific facts of how the defense dealt with the pain issue, knowledgeable counsel will craft a strategy to counteract the defense expert’s opinion. In most cases, it will be necessary to establish two main points. First, the injury suffered is likely to result in some level of pain. Second, pain is individualized, and different people experience pain differently. It will be difficult, even for a defense expert, to find these two fundamental points objectionable. Once it is agreed that pain is a unique experience, your injury lawyer can proceed to develop how the defense expert arrived at his or her conclusion. If no pain assessment test was given, it will be difficult for the defense expert to support an opinion that the pain is minimal. Further questioning can focus on specifics, such as establishing that:
Pain is real.
The person suffering the pain is in the best position to know how frequent it is.The sufferer is in the best position to know how severe the pain is.It is impossible to understand how much pain another person is suffering.Contact Seattle Personal Injury Lawyers for Legal Advice
Pain and suffering can be both physical and mental. Be certain you explore and understand all the damages you are entitled to in your personal injury claim. Begin with a call to Chris Thayer, a Seattle injury lawyers group, at (206) 340-2008.