Emotional distress damages – often referred to as pain and suffering – can be a huge amount of your claim if you suffered injuries in a car accident, truck wreck, slip and fall, or other personal injury incident. Unlike compensation for your medical bills and lost wages, emotional distress damages may be harder to calculate. However, you still need to prove the other party’s negligence and that you suffered emotional distress due to your injuries to receive this compensation.
How Do You Prove That You Suffered Emotional Distress Due to Your Accident?
The term emotional distress refers to the psychological impact that the accident and your injuries have on your life. You could experience many signs of emotional distress including:
- Insomnia or other difficulties sleeping
- Anxiety
- Fear
- Depression
- Uncontrollable crying
- Guilt
- Anger
- Headaches and migraines
- Ulcers
While emotional distress is somewhat subjective, there are ways that you can prove that these injuries and the symptoms you are experiencing are real.
Here are ways to prove your right to compensation for emotional distress:
Doctor or mental health professional.
You want to tell your doctor about the emotional distress you are feeling and the symptoms you are experiencing. He may be able to provide you with treatment for your symptoms, can document your emotional distress, and can discuss these injuries as part of his expert witness testimony in your case. If you are seeing a counselor or other mental health professional for your emotional distress, this person could be an expert witness who could explain how your injuries were caused by your accident, the extent of your symptoms, how they impact your life, and what treatments you need.
Friends and family.
Friends, co-workers, and family members can write a statement and testify as to how they have noticed your emotional condition changing since your accident. If they can describe specific examples of when you suffered with symptoms, like headaches, crying, or depression, this can help prove your claim.
Journals.
An accident diary can help you record important details about the accident, your medical care, and the emotional distress you are experiencing on a daily basis. This can be an important way to document when you suffered the symptoms of emotional distress, which could be otherwise impossible to remember. Before starting a journal, you want to obtain guidance from your attorney about what to record in it because the negligent party could obtain a copy of it in a lawsuit.
Prescriptions.
If you are taking any prescriptions for depression, insomnia, or other symptoms of your emotional distress, you will want to obtain records of the medications that you are taking and their cost.
Have You Been Involved In An Accident?
If you’ve been injured in an accident you need to speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Henderson as soon as possible. Contact us online or call our Henderson office directly at 702.405.6000 to schedule a free initial consultation.