Personal injuries can prove financially devastating. Fortunately, personal injury laws help victims recoup their losses. If you or someone you love has been harmed by the negligence of others, it’s important to understand how insurance companies and attorneys calculate economic damages. Rushing a settlement or attempting to negotiate on your own could lead to costly oversights.
Objective, Quantifiable Costs
There are two components to every personal injury settlement. The first of these is the victim’s objective, quantifiable costs. These include medical bills and other treatment-related expenses. They also include missed wages, changes in earning capacity, and treatment-related transportation costs, among other things. To calculate quantifiable costs, insurance adjusters and attorneys total all receipts and add all relevant sums from work statements and other case documentation.
Pain and Suffering
The second component in an insurance settlement is compensation for pain and suffering. This is a monetary award for the mental and physical anguish that an injury has caused, and it’s almost entirely subjective. In most cases, insurers and lawyers use the Multiplier Method or the Per Diem method to arrive at a dollar amount.
With the Multiplier Method, they multiply the total objective economic damages by an agreed-upon number. This number is usually between 0.5% and 1.5%. With the Per Diem method, both parties agree upon a daily compensation amount for pain and suffering. They then multiply the number of days that a person spends in recovery by this dollar amount.
Medical Expenses
From your very first emergency room visit to your last day of medical treatment, your personal injury claim will cover all related medical expenses. These include all:
- Prescription medications
- Over-the-counter medications
- Essential medical supplies
- Non-traditional medical treatment
Injury victims are entitled to receive all the medical care they need to return to their pre-injury condition, or as close to it as possible. Covered treatment costs can include care from chiropractors, myofascial specialists, naturopaths, and other non-conventional practitioners. If cupping, acupuncture, or therapeutic massage prove to be key elements in your treatment plan, you can include the costs of these services in your settlement.
Mental Health Services
Serious physical injuries can take a toll on a person’s medical health, too. Certain physical injuries, such as traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), can have a long-term impact on emotional regulation and other chemical brain functions. Some injury events can even create long-term struggles with anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Accident victims can include the costs of all mental health services in their settlement requests. Much like emergency room bills, these are objective costs, but they can also impact the determined amounts for pain and suffering.
The mental health effects of personal injury are among the most commonly overlooked treatment needs among accident victims, especially when accident victims succumb to pressure to settle early. This is why many attorneys encourage their clients to schedule mental health services at the first signs of mental or emotional distress.
Lost Wages
For serious injuries, people may be unable to work for weeks or months. However, even if you’re able to return to work quickly, you can still submit statements for lost wages that account for work hours missed due to doctor’s visits, therapy, and other medical appointments.
Professional Damages
Some injuries can permanently alter a person’s ability to perform in a professional capacity. While you might still have the ability to work following your injury, you may be unable to handle the same job duties. This can be especially damaging for professionals who’ve invested lots of time and money into specialized training. For instance, if a doctor, pianist, or machine operator loses a hand, fingers, or fine motor control, they might never return to their former occupation.
In addition to lost wages, settlement amounts can account for lost professional opportunities and diminished earning capacities. As needed, claims adjusters and lawyers can work with expert witnesses to determine fair damage amounts.
Transportation Costs
Throughout your recovery, keep receipts for all transportation costs related to your medical care. These include receipts for ambulance rides, ridesharing services, bridge and road tolls, and fuel. Whether you’re physically unable to drive yourself to and from appointments or no longer comfortable driving due to PTSD, deliver all documented transportation costs to your personal injury lawyer.
Continued Care
Accident victims are advised against settling their claims before their medical treatment has ended. Unfortunately, not all physical and emotional damage makes itself known right away. Latent injuries can appear days, weeks, or even months following an injury event, and mental health challenges can take just as long to manifest.
Serious physical injuries can require ongoing treatment throughout a victim’s remaining years. People with disfiguring injuries, debilitating injuries, and severe TBIs may require around-the-clock care or in-house nursing for the remainder of their lives. Attorneys can call expert witnesses to calculate the costs of a person’s long-term treatment needs while making necessary adjustments for inflation and other projected economic changes.
How a Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help
Even seemingly minor injury events can have long-lasting physical and financial consequences. A an experienced personal injury lawyer can help you accurately calculate your economic damages following an injury in multiple ways. Attorneys can refer to past cases to ensure fair amounts for subjective damages. They can also help you avoid settling prematurely, even when dealing with aggressive insurance adjusters.
To optimize your outcome in a personal injury claim, carefully document all of your treatment-related expenses. Keep all receipts, doctors’ notes, eyewitness statements, and other data. You can pass your evidence on to a seasoned personal injury attorney throughout your claim. Your attorney can organize your settlement request and negotiate for you.