3 Overlooked Damages in Personal Injury Case
When people are injured, their lives may be affected in many ways. No matter how the accident occurred, they deserve to be fully compensated for the negative impact on their future.
There are many factors to consider in this respect, not all of them obvious. Some sources of potential damages are common yet easily overlooked. When that happens, clients miss out on the fair settlement they deserve.
“When someone suffers a loss, they should be fully compensated,” says Dr. Survam Patel, Managing Partner of Compliant Clients. “Unfortunately, some sources of damages are routinely overlooked. That means victims continue to experience negative consequences with no opportunity to be made whole. To get the best outcome, personal injury attorneys must take all relevant factors into consideration.”
Ensuring Fairer Compensation
In today’s world, it’s understood that personal injury clients suffer losses in multiple ways. Thanks to advancing medical knowledge, we know that the impact can reach far beyond immediate physical injuries and material losses.
Here are some commonly-overlooked sources of damages that every personal injury attorney should be aware of. Use this checklist to ensure your clients get the settlement they are entitled to:
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
PTSD is now recognized as a serious medical disorder with long-term consequences. Even after recovering from physical injuries, clients may be haunted by the long-term effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. These can last for decades, casting a shadow that’s hard to shake off. However, that’s only part of the story. Medical experts now view PTSD as a dual phenomenon that affects people in two different ways. Of course, it’s well known that this disorder causes painful psychological problems that require ongoing medical treatment. But recent research shows that PTSD also has a significant physiological effect with knock-on consequences. This can lead to the exacerbation of other injuries, making them more severe than initially thought. Plus, the psychological impact can result in other health consequences further down the track. In other words, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a ‘hidden in plain sight’ issue that can cause significant damages in multiple ways. Personal injury attorneys should consider all of these when working on cases.
Emotional Distress
While the physical effects of an injury can be devastating, it’s important not to overlook other factors. For example, emotional distress can also create a heavy mental burden as clients try to rebuild their lives. Yet because of its intangible nature, it’s easy to underestimate the cost to the client’s happiness. From the loss of sleep to anxiety to disorders, emotional distress can manifest itself in many ways. Clients may find their injuries curtail their activities, preventing them from enjoying life fully. Possible problems include:
- Diminished quality of life
- Cognitive changes (after head injuries)
- Distress over a disability
- Embarrassment or humiliation
- Mental anguish
- Stress or inconvenience
- Humiliation
- Depression
- The grief of losing a loved one
- Self-harm or substance abuse
Clients should receive compensation for these and any other negative psychological impact resulting from the injury.
Injury-related Transportation Costs
Many injuries require the client to attend medical appointments and receive medical treatment as part of a long-term care plan. This may require frequent trips, often to places far from home. The associated travel costs can add up to a significant burden for the individual. For clients with their own vehicles, it means contending with high fuel costs and inevitable wear and tear. Those without their own transportation may need to use taxis or ride-sharing services, which can soon become costly. Fortunately, transportation and pharmacy expenses can be considered as part of the claim, so they may be recovered as compensable expenses. However, there is a caveat. For this to succeed, PI firms need to work with a good non-recourse partner. This is why more and more attorneys are choosing Compliant Clients to manage all their client transportation needs.
Let Us Help
Personal injury cases are always complex, with a lot of factors to take into account. So it makes sense to partner with specialists who can take some of the load off your hands.
As client transportation and pharmacy experts, Compliant Clients can help you ensure that medical expenses are managed and documented efficiently. Consequently, you will find it easy to include all relevant transportation and pharmacy costs in any claim.
“We’ll take good care of your clients and ensure they get the help they need,” says Dr. Patel. “Plus, we’ll take good care of you, too. We offer both transportation and pharmacy on lien, meaning we only get compensated when the case is settled.”
In other words, it won’t cost you or your clients a cent to take advantage of our service. We will:
- Schedule rides for clients attending appointments
- Follow-up to eliminate gaps in treatment
- Provide clients with pre-paid pharmacy cards
- Make it easy to fill prescriptions at any pharmacy
- Keep people on track with their care plans
As experts in transportation and pharmacy for personal injury law firms, we have years of experience dealing with these issues. We’ll take them off your hands, so you can focus on getting the best outcome for clients—including those commonly-overlooked sources of damages.
To find out more about working with Compliant Clients, contact us today. We’ll be happy to set you on the road to fairer settlements for all your clients.
