When you’re hurt in an accident, your doctor helps you heal and recover from your injuries. While it’s common knowledge that medical care is necessary for proper diagnosis and treatment of your injuries, many people don’t realize a medical doctor’s opinion plays an important role in receiving financial compensation for their injuries.

If you were in a motor vehicle accident and suffered injuries because of someone else’s negligent actions, you’re entitled to file a claim with the other driver’s insurance carrier to receive compensation.

These losses include things like medical expenses, lost wages, property damage and pain and suffering. The latter refers to the physical and psychological pain you may be experiencing in the aftermath of your accident, such as chronic pain, permanent disability, anxiety, depression or PTSD.

Pain and suffering are subjective, which is why they can be hard to quantify with a specific dollar amount. If you choose to include pain and suffering in your insurance claim, your doctor can help establish what you’re experiencing.

Permanent injuries often justify high pain and suffering damages. For example, your doctor can help make the case that you may never fully recover from your injuries and will struggle with limited mobility for the rest of your life after an accident.

The Importance of Documenting Your Injuries

Before you can claim any pain and suffering related to your injuries, it’s important for your medical team to establish the injuries did occur and were a direct result of your accident.

You should seek medical attention immediately following a car crash or any other accident resulting from another person’s negligence. Even if your accident was seemingly minor, such as getting rear-ended by a slow-moving vehicle, you can still suffer serious injuries like whiplash or a concussion. Paying a visit to the nearest chiropractor or injury doctor will ensure you receive proper medical care. It also creates a record of your injuries.

Keep in mind the at-fault party’s insurance company isn’t on your side. People who file insurance claims are often under the false assumption that they will quickly receive the compensation they’re owed. This is typically not the case.

Insurance companies are for profit organizations. This means they’ll likely try to dispute your claim or offer as little compensation as possible. To prevent this from happening, make sure you to follow your doctor’s orders and show up to every appointment. It’s also important to save all documents pertaining to your injuries and recovery process. Doing so will ensure you have concrete evidence to support your claim. Examples of things to document include:

• Medical bills
• Treatment plans
• Prognosis
• Prescriptions
• Test results
• Diagnostics
• Appointment dates and locations
• Physical therapy

Establishing Pain and Suffering

In the legal realm, pain and suffering refers to a person’s long-term physical pain and emotional injuries resulting from an accident. Examples of such injuries include chronic pain, nerve damage (leading to pain), paralysis, deformation, PTSD, anxiety, insomnia and overall loss of quality of life.

Accidents that leave you with permanent scars or confined to a wheelchair may have a detrimental effect not only on your physical health but also your state of mind. You may have trouble getting out of the house, finding employment or forming and maintaining romantic relationships, all of which may lead to tremendous emotional suffering. As such, your accident may result in mental anguish and a significantly diminished quality of life.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to put a dollar amount on that suffering.

It’s easy to quantify lost wages attributable to an injury. You had to miss a month of work due to the car crash, so your lost wages compensation should be equal to a month of your salary. But how do you put a dollar amount on never being able to walk again?

Your doctor or mental health counselor can provide medical evidence to support your pain and suffering claim. They can help document what you're experiencing and testify to the long-term physical and emotional ramifications of your injury.

Get Thorough Treatment and Documentation of Your Injuries at HURT911 in Georgia

At HURT911, we specialize in treating patients who’ve suffered from personal injuries. Not only do we help our patients recover physically, but we also assist in filing insurance claims by offering thorough documentation of their injuries and treatment plans.

If you’ve recently been injured in a car accident, don’t hesitate to get help by visiting one of our Atlanta injury centers.

Schedule your same day appointment by calling 1-800-HURT-911.