What is the financial equivalent for pain and suffering? How do you put a price or amount on this? After accidents, it is easy to determine the exact financial equivalent of medical bills, property damages, and the cost of drugs. All you need to do is just add up all your receipts and invoices.

Unfortunately, it’s not relatively easy to do that in this case. Pain and suffering are the higher cost of accidents. You can never equate dollar amounts to the stress, anguish, anxiety, physical and emotional pains that come with accidents.

However, there can be some compensation. Compensation is just a settlement and not full repayment. If you’ve ever been a victim of an accident, you know that you deserve compensation for all damages.

Unfortunately, most insurers will want to pay you as little as they can. Hence, the need to use the services of an experienced personal injury attorney. Get a personal injury attorney who will ensure that you get all that you deserve.

What Can You Count as Pain and Suffering?

To better understand the average settlement, we need to understand what the law considers pain and suffering. Typically, every accident victim is entitled to pursue economic and non-economic damages from the negligent party or parties in an accident.

Economic damages refer to the dollar value of any treatment taken, drugs, and future medical treatment. It also covers loss of job, loss or damages to properties, the cost for retraining for another job, and lost wages. These costs are easily quantifiable.

However, non-economic damages are also known as pain and suffering. The term is also used to refer to the emotional toll and distress caused by the at-fault party’s negligence in an accident. Pain and suffering cannot get calculated easily.

The following damages are pain and suffering:

  • Physical discomfort or pain that could be temporary or permanent
  • Emotional disorders like anxiety, depression, insomnia, amnesia, and post-traumatic stress disorder, etc.
  • Loss of support or supportive relationship with spouse or  family members
  • Emotional trauma
  • Physical limitations and loss of enjoyment of lifestyle
  • Loss of opportunities
  • Physical disfigurement or limited use of body functions

 

Getting the value for pain and suffering can be challenging.  Also, getting paid for the pain is almost herculean without using a personal injury lawyer.

What Factors Affect the Settlement for Pain and Suffering?

Typically, an insurer will not want to pay for pain and suffering if they can. However, they look at many factors to determine how high or low the settlement should be. Because it is not economic damage, most insurers argue over the value of the payment.

The following factors can affect the value of your settlement:

  • The severity of the injury, if any.
  • The type of impact on collision. High impact collisions get higher, and insurers usually argue about low-impact collisions.
  • Existence of prior injuries
  • Medical history
  • Medical bills
  • Liability
  • Type and severity of injuries
  • Burns and amputations
  • Spinal cord injuries
  • Disfigurement, especially if it’s to the face
  • Traumatic brain injuries

What Is the Average Settlement Amount for Pain and Suffering?

It is impossible to give an exact amount to the cost of the average settlement amount for pain and injury. So many factors affect the settlement amount for pain and suffering. That’s why you must work with a personal injury attorney to get the best possible settlement. Not all accident victims get pain and suffering settlement.

Accidents that qualify you for this compensation include:

 

Individuals respond differently to injuries and pain. This difference also affects the average pain and suffering settlement. There’s also a difference in how injuries and pain last and how they affect victims’ emotional well-being and lifestyle. For example, specific injuries are that the pain and suffering are as long as the victim has the wound.

That is, the injury stops after the completion of medical treatment. Others persist even after treatment or remain for the rest of the victim’s life. No matter the circumstance surrounding your pain and suffering settlement, you have to convince the insurer by justifying the amount you’re asking for as compensation for your pain and suffering.

Hire an Attorney To Get the Best Settlement!

Getting into any accident is traumatic enough without the added burden of seeking compensation for damages. However, you need to get paid for damages, even for non-economic ones like pain and suffering. Talk to a personal injury attorney at Pinder Plotkin, LLC, to bring you the best possible settlement for your pain and suffering.

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