What is Pain and Suffering?

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If you’ve been in a car crash, commercial truck wreck, or any personal injury accident including slip and fall, then you know what pain and suffering feel and look like. However, pain and suffering often goes beyond a broken bone, injured spine, or a few stitches. 

Tim Gilpin of Gilpin Law Office has spent more than 35 years serving Oklahomans throughout Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Jenks, and all of Green Country. To schedule a free legal consultation and calculate your pain and suffering, give Tim a call today at 918.583.8900.

What Does Pain and Suffering Include?

When another party’s negligence has impacted your life, the resulting pain and suffering can be extensive and often goes far beyond the initial medical costs or any related property damage. The law allows for recovery of physical and mental pain and suffering when someone else is negligent and harms you. 

These are just some of the things included under the legal umbrella of pain and suffering:

  • The mental distress and turmoil that you and your family endure
  • Earning impairment including wage loss or job loss
  • Physical impairment or disability
  • Physical disfigurement or scarring

Pain and suffering also accounts for the pain of loved ones suffered before death in the case of a wrongful death resulting from the other party’s negligence. Wrongful death claims also include the survivors’ loss of companionship and relationship to the deceased. 

Calculating Pain and Suffering in Oklahoma

How do you put a dollar figure on pain and suffering? Under Oklahoma law, a jury ultimately decides a physical and mental pain and suffering claim in a court trial. That’s why it’s important to hire an attorney who is adept at preparing a lawsuit for the jury. 

Before you get to a jury, even before a lawsuit is filed while trying to settle your claim, an experienced lawyer goes to great effort to collect evidence in medical records that indicate or record pain levels, pain medication and sedation prescribed and taken, and care providers’ notes that memorialize symptoms. Further evidence of pain and suffering comes from the injured person regarding their changed life and activities, loss of work time, and the loss of enjoyment of life and family. 

Other witnesses to pain and suffering include family members, friends, and care providers as they note changes, facial expressions, complaints of pain, inability to function, and change in personality. The more severe the injuries, the greater the worth of any claim. 

Pain and Suffering in Wrongful Death

In case of wrongful death, the spouses and children of an injured or deceased person can claim loss of consortium. This includes the loss of the individual’s companionship, financial support, and services of a spouse or parent due to an injury or negligently-caused death. Services include all that a husband, wife, or parent would typically do around the home or in life for their loved one or family and loss of their income and support that should have occurred. 

Objective Evidence of Pain and Suffering 

An experienced attorney will gather and use extensive evidence to support a pain and suffering claim.

Expect your attorney to present the following in court:

  • Medical records
  • Eyewitness testimony
  • Photos of the accident or wreck scene
  • Photos documenting injuries, bruising, stitches, and swollen limbs
  • Photos and videos of the injured person attempting to recover and get along in everyday activities with the impairments left behind by the injury
  • X-rays, MRI scans, or CT scans that show the dramatic nature of the injury and illustrate the injured party’s pain
  • Photos of the injured party’s life before and after the injury 
  • Journals of the pain and recovery
  • Statements from friends and family

Call an Experienced OK Personal Injury Attorney

Pain and suffering changes a person’s life and that of his or her family. When you’ve experienced a personal injury that isn’t your fault, you need someone with a proven record to advocate on your behalf. 

Whether you’ve been the victim of an auto accident, medical malpractice, or mesothelioma from asbestos injury, Tim Gilpin is the right personal injury lawyer to get you and your family the help you need. Call Tim to get local expert legal help from a lawyer with decades of experience. 

To schedule your free consultation with Tim Gilpin of Gilpin Law Office, contact Tim today. And remember: no recovery means no attorney fee.