Pain and suffering damages often represent the largest portion of injury settlements beyond medical bills and lost wages. These non-economic damages compensate you for physical pain, emotional distress, and reduced quality of life that numbers alone cannot capture.
Our friends at Wyatt Injury Law Personal Injury Attorneys discuss how strategic documentation and presentation of pain and suffering dramatically increase settlement values. A car accident lawyer knows that proving these subjective damages requires more than just claiming you hurt because insurance companies need concrete evidence supporting non-economic loss claims.
These seven tips will help you maximize pain and suffering compensation in your case.
Keep a Detailed Daily Pain Journal
Start documenting your pain and its impact on your life immediately after your accident. Write daily entries describing your pain levels on a scale of 1 to 10, specific activities you can no longer perform, how pain affects your sleep quality, emotional impacts like anxiety or depression, and limitations on work or family responsibilities.
According to the American Bar Association, contemporaneous daily journals provide powerful evidence of ongoing suffering that medical records alone cannot capture.
These journal entries transform abstract pain claims into concrete documentation showing day-to-day struggles that justify substantial non-economic damages. Write entries consistently rather than trying to recreate months of experiences from memory later.
Document How Injuries Changed Your Life
Pain and suffering damages compensate for loss of enjoyment of life. Document specific activities and experiences your injuries prevent you from enjoying:
- Hobbies you can no longer pursue
- Sports or exercise activities you’ve abandoned
- Family events you’ve missed
- Travel plans canceled due to injuries
- Social gatherings avoided because of pain
- Intimate relationships affected by physical limitations
The more specific examples you provide of how injuries diminished your quality of life, the stronger your pain and suffering claims become. Generic statements about reduced enjoyment carry far less weight than detailed examples of actual lost experiences.
Get Statements From Family and Friends
People who know you well can testify about personality changes, mood shifts, activity limitations, and visible suffering they’ve observed. Written statements from family members, friends, and coworkers describing how your injuries changed you add credibility to your pain claims.
These third-party observations counter insurance company arguments that you’re exaggerating suffering. When multiple people independently describe similar changes in your demeanor, activities, and emotional state, your claims gain substantial credibility.
Take Regular Photos of Visible Injuries
Visual evidence makes pain real to insurance adjusters and juries. Photograph visible injuries throughout your recovery showing bruising progression, swelling changes, surgical scars, physical deformities, and medical devices or equipment you require.
Even injuries that heal leave scars or permanent changes worth documenting. Continue photographing your body months after accidents to show lasting physical effects that support ongoing pain claims.
Images convey suffering more powerfully than words alone. Insurance companies settle for higher amounts when they see compelling visual evidence of your injuries and their lasting impacts.
Follow All Medical Treatment Without Gaps
Consistent medical treatment demonstrates the seriousness of your pain and injuries. Gaps in treatment give insurance companies arguments that you recovered or your suffering wasn’t significant enough to warrant continued care.
Complete every recommended treatment including all physical therapy sessions, follow-up appointments with specialists, prescribed pain management protocols, and mental health counseling for emotional trauma.
Medical records documenting ongoing treatment for pain, prescriptions for pain medications, and providers’ notes about your reported symptoms all support substantial pain and suffering awards.
Be Honest But Thorough With Medical Providers
Tell doctors everything about how pain affects your daily life. Many people downplay symptoms to appear tough or don’t think to mention certain impacts. This creates medical records that understate your actual suffering.
Discuss with providers your pain levels throughout the day, activities that increase or decrease pain, sleep disruption from discomfort, emotional impacts of dealing with chronic pain, and any depression or anxiety related to your injuries.
The more thoroughly medical records document your reported pain and its effects, the easier we can justify higher pain and suffering damages during settlement negotiations.
Demonstrate Emotional and Psychological Impacts
Physical pain often causes significant emotional distress that deserves separate compensation. Document anxiety about your recovery, depression from inability to work or enjoy activities, stress from financial pressures injuries created, fear of permanent disability, and relationship strain caused by mood changes.
Consider seeking counseling or therapy for emotional impacts of your injuries. Mental health treatment records provide objective evidence of psychological suffering beyond just physical pain.
Insurance companies cannot easily dismiss pain and suffering claims supported by professional mental health treatment demonstrating genuine emotional trauma from accidents and injuries.
Proving What Cannot Be Measured
Pain and suffering damages are inherently subjective. Unlike medical bills with exact dollar amounts, there’s no objective way to measure physical pain or emotional distress. This subjectivity makes these damages both the most valuable and the hardest to prove.
Insurance companies use formulas multiplying medical expenses by factors ranging from 1.5 to 5 depending on injury severity. Strong documentation of pain and suffering justifies higher multipliers that translate directly into thousands of additional settlement dollars.
The difference between minimal and maximum pain and suffering awards often comes down to how well you document and present these non-economic losses. Generic claims of pain aren’t enough. You need specific, detailed, consistent evidence showing exactly how injuries diminished your quality of life and caused ongoing suffering.
Don’t leave pain and suffering compensation to chance or accept insurance company calculations based on minimal documentation. Contact an experienced attorney who will help you document non-economic damages thoroughly, present compelling evidence of your suffering, and fight for maximum pain and suffering compensation that truly reflects how injuries have impacted every aspect of your life and wellbeing.