Personal injury claims are legal cases filed when one gets injured due to someone else’s negligence. Injuries can not only cause physical pain, but they can also cause emotional distress. One may undergo severe emotional distress after an accident, causing mental anguish and untold suffering. The amount of emotional distress damages vary depending on the kind of injury incurred and the personality of an individual.
Severe accidents can cause intense psychological impacts, which can change your life drastically. Emotional distress can manifest in many ways, such as anxiety, sleep loss, fear, and in extreme cases, depression. Filing an injury claim ensures that the person liable for the accident is held accountable.
The following are ways in which emotional distress can factor into your injury claim.
Documenting Emotional Distress
Emotional distress can be documented in various ways. Seeking medical treatment and telling your doctor about the psychological symptoms you are experiencing can be a good start. The physician will prescribe medication to help you cope with your situation.
The doctor’s report and the prescriptions can be used as medically documented emotional distress records. Witness statements from loved ones or even your employer can be helpful. Since they spend most of their time with you, they can quickly note any behavior change, such as crying for no reason or being fatigued and unable to do your work. You can ask them to write a little narrative of your behavior change since the occurrence of the traumatic event.
Ideally, writing a diary daily to keep track of your emotions after the accident can be a good idea. It can be used as evidence to reinforce your claim for compensation. Doctors’ testimony, witness statements, and the diary can be substantial evidence in proving that you are emotionally distressed, and that you are eligible for compensation.
Body-Related Harm
It may seem difficult to prove emotional distress, but body-related changes are relatively easy to prove. These are visible signs, so you do not have to go out of your way to prove them. Panic attacks, fatigue, or even stomach ulcers can be physical signs of emotional distress. This can be crucial evidence in making your personal injury claim strong.
The Intensity of the Pain and Suffering
If the injury caused you intense mental anguish, you would have better chances of proving why you need the compensation. If the accident was severe, the accompanying emotional distress should be taken into consideration. Your Boise personal injury attorney can argue for your emotional distress claim, pointing out how extreme your accident was in nature.
Duration of Emotional Stress
It is an essential note that experiencing emotional distress symptoms for a long duration after the accident can be considered in your injury claim. Immediate fear and anxiety after the accident can be symptoms of the body’s reactions to shock and may later subside. If the emotional distress symptoms continue, then that can be grounds for filing a compensation claim.
Underlying Cause
Some accidents are extreme, such as surviving a bombing or even surviving an accident where you lose your loved one. Such types of accidents can cause significant emotional distress and trauma. Your injury attorney can present your claim, and if the court finds it fair, it will have you compensated for all the mental anguish you have experienced.
Conclusion
Attesting for emotional distress in your injury claim is not an easy task. You will need to incorporate the methods above to show the intensity of your suffering. Legal advice is essential in making sure you get the compensation you deserve. Your attorney will be glad to guide you throughout the case.
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