Personal injury accidents, such as slips and falls, vehicle crashes, and medical malpractice, often leave victims with serious injuries requiring treatment and surgery. Some victims may even initially survive an accident only to lose their lives after being hospitalized for days or weeks. Personal injury victims often endure immeasurable pain and suffering before ultimately reaching a point of improvement or until it claims their life.
While many people worry about the monetary losses associated with personal injury incidents, like medical bills and lost wages, pain and suffering have a price too. Let’s go over how pain and suffering are proven and how monetary value is assigned to non-economic damages.
What is Pain and Suffering?
Considered a non-economic damage, pain and suffering includes a victim’s physical and emotional suffering. It combines the pain, anguish, and trauma you suffered. The term “damages” means the amount of money you may be awarded in a personal injury lawsuit. Typically, damages are paid by the person who caused the injury due to negligence or intentional harm. Physical injuries in an accident due to someone else’s negligence can be excruciating, lasting for weeks, months, or years. The injury can be permanent, leaving the victim with constant physical pain. Physical injuries that qualify for pain and suffering compensation include:
- Traumatic brain injury
- Nerve damage
- Broken or fractured bones
- Dislocated joints
- Organ damage
- Paralysis
Emotional pain and suffering is when the negligent actions of another result in the victim sustaining emotional or mental distress. This emotional pain can be severe and cause permanent damage to the victim’s emotional and mental state. Emotional pain and suffering can include:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Insomnia
- Cognitive impairments
- Loss of quality of life
How to Quantify Pain and Suffering Damages
In Maryland, Personal injury lawyers calculate pain and suffering using the per diem or multiplier method. Per diem, meaning “by the day,” involves setting aside a certain amount of money for each day post-incident until the victim reaches maximum medical improvement. The difficult part of the per diem method is deciding the reasonable daily amount. Some lawyers and insurance companies use actual daily earnings. The problem associated with the per diem method is that while it is ideal for calculating pain and suffering immediately after an accident, it doesn’t account for potential issues down the road that may also cause you to experience physical or mental anguish.
On the other hand, the multiplier method assigns a multiplier of between 1.5-5 to injuries relative to their severity. More serious, permanent injuries such as TBIs demand a higher multiplier than injuries victims can recover from in a reasonable time. Factors including the duration of the pain and suffering and its impact on the victim’s life also affect the multiplier assigned to the victim’s injuries. The multiplier is generally applied to economic costs associated with treating the injury, such as medical bills, physical therapy, and lost wages.
Contact The Snyder Law Group Today
The Snyder Law Group, LLC, proudly represents clients throughout Maryland and Washington, D.C. Our experienced Baltimore attorneys understand the frustration that comes with an insurance company, medical professional, or other party that refuses to accept liability for negligent or reckless behavior. You can take heart in knowing there are talented and experienced lawyers ready to work for you. We are experienced in handling personal injury claims of medical malpractice or injury resulting from serious car and truck accidents, and have secured hundreds of millions in verdicts and settlements. Please visit our website, www.410thefirm.com, or call us at 410-843-3476, for more information. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.