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What Is The Value Of My Unique Or Catastrophic Injury Case? (A Special Discussion About Wounds, Scars, and Disfigurement; Amputations; Brain Injuries; And Other Catastrophic Injuries; Wrongful Death; Psychological Injuries; Work And Lifestyle Impact)

Wounds, scars, disfigurement:

Tears and lacerations that require stitches or other treatment and wounds that result in permanent scarring or disfigurement increase the value of your case. The location of your scarring and factors that may surprise you, such as your attractiveness and whether you are male or female, can widely affect the value of your case. For example, a jury is likely to award you more if you are an attractive young woman with facial scarring than if you have a scar in a location that is not normally visible. The greater the impact on your life, such as a model who's facial scarring will affect his or her livelihood, the higher the anticipated award from the jury.

If there is a medical opinion that surgery could improve your scarring, this will impact the value of your case. If such an opinion exists and is not acted upon, the defendant will argue not only that you must not be terribly bothered by the scarring or you would have opted for a procedure to resolve it and that you should not be compensated for a procedure that you are not going to opt for regardless of your testimony because you would have done so, and that you should not be compensated for permanent scarring because you have failed to mitigated your damages by availing yourself to a procedure that could resolve it. While these arguments are inconsistent, the value of your claim may suffer in this situation depending on the specific circumstances.

Amputation

Amputations can involve loss of a fingertip or something as severe as the loss of an entire limb. The effects of any amputation are typically lifelong and result in a higher case value. As with other injuries, the case value of your amputation injuries and damages case can vary depending on the location and extent of the loss and the resulting level of disability and other resulting damages such as potential wage loss. Many amputation injuries are catastrophic in nature.

Brain damage:

Brain injuries may affect both mental and bodily functions and depending on the severity can result in total incapacitation. These injuries are likely to have profound, longstanding, and often permanent effects. All but the mildest brain injury produces lasting differences in how one thinks, feels, and experiences life. Moreover, the effects of a brain injury can recur even after recovery an injury victim's recovery appears to be complete. As with amputation injuries, many brain damage cases are catastrophic.

Recognizing traumatic brain injury and obtaining proper treatment is vital. Unfortunately, traumatic brain injury often goes undiagnosed and untreated. Some victims don't even realize they are impaired. Moreover, sufficient cognitive rehabilitation is sometimes hard to come by because insurers contend the evidence is insufficient to conclude that it results in beneficial outcomes. 5.3 million Americans live with a disability from traumatic brain injury. 1.4 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury each year. Of the 1.4 million, 50,000 die and 235,000 are hospitalized. The traumatic brain injury victim truly needs experienced representation.

Other Catastrophic Injuries:

Spinal cord damage usually results in paralysis. These injuries require lifetime medical treatment and result in lifetime loss of earning capacity. The damages are astronomical and hence the value of these cases can be astronomical if handled properly. It is in such cases that insurance companies up some of the most vigorous defenses in an effort to protect profits and minimize their payouts to whatever extent possible.

Wrongful death:

The value of a wrongful death case can be greatly impacted by the extent of the physical and emotional suffering that occurs between the time of accident and death. Other case value factors include the age, sex, marital status, and wage earning capacity of the wrongful death victim. The value of a wrongful death case is usually high and greatly impacted by the level of preparation and adequacy of presentation.

Psychological injuries and damage:

In addition to physical injury resulting from a serious accident, psychological injuries such as depression and post-traumatic stress can occur. It has always been a challenge to properly present a claim with significant psychological damages, but the relationship between physical and psychological injuries continues to gain acceptance as the medical knowledge continues to advance. In general, from both a legal and practical perspective, psychological damages must be evaluated and diagnosed by a psychologist, psychiatrist, neuropsychologist or other such therapist in order to be admissible and compensable.

Work and Lifestyle Impact

Permanent impact on work and lifestyle due to injuries results in greater jury awards and case value than those that only cause short-term problems. Inability to work or need for job retraining results in larger jury awards than cases in which injury solely affects the ability to engage in non income generating income generating activities such as nonprofessional sports or other such recreational activities.

The diagnosis of your injuries and the type and length of the medical treatment that you receive and the length of your physical recovery can greatly impact the value of your case. Go to "How Does My Treatment Affect The Value Of My Case? (Diagnosis, Treatment, And Length Of Recovery) for more information

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