3 Ways To Prove Emotional Distress In Your Personal Injury Case
by Lawrence Miller
Emotional distress can be one of the most difficult injuries to prove when it comes to personal injury cases. Although you are entitled to financial compensation for these damages, there are no x-rays or other medical records that can definitively prove the level of emotional distress an accident has caused you. If you are thinking about filing an emotional distress claim, here are three ways that you can prove the existence (and extent) of your distress.
1. Visit with a psychologist.
If you are looking for hard evidence that emotional distress has negatively impacted your life, you may want to consider visiting with a psychologist before you file a claim in court.
Seeking help from a psychologist can not only help you better manage the emotional distress that plagues you on a daily basis, but establishing a relationship with a mental health professional can give you access to an expert witness who can testify on your behalf. The opinion of an expert (like a psychologist) can influence the court's decision to grant you financial compensation for your emotional distress.
2. Document physical signs of stress.
Although emotional distress itself may not be visible to the naked eye, being exposed to long bouts of emotional distress could result in the manifestation of physical symptoms. If you are hoping to prove that your emotional distress qualifies for financial compensation, you should document any physical signs of distress that appear.
Presenting documented evidence of tension headaches, chronic back pain, and gastrointestinal problems that started shortly after your accident could be a simple way to convince the court that your emotional distress is negatively affecting your health on a daily basis. Physical stress can also affect hormones, so getting blood work from your doctor is a good way to get more quantifiable data. Furthermore, make sure you document the start of any SSRIs or similar medications as those can show the court that you've had to take specific medications for anxiety, depression, and the like.
3. Retain a lawyer.
When it comes to proving that emotional distress has impacted your life, having the help of a skilled attorney can be beneficial. A personal injury attorney will be able to determine what evidence is needed to legally prove your case, and he or she will be able to determine if a separate case for intentional infliction of emotional distress is needed. Your attorney will also be able to help you determine the amount of compensation your emotional distress may qualify for.
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What kind of injuries can you hold someone liable for? How severe do the injuries have to be? When my husband was injured by a faulty saw, we weren't sure what we were going to do. At that time, we didn't have any health insurance and had to try to come up with the money for emergency and long-term medial treatment. This created an impossible time for my family. My husband was out of work and we had medical bills piling up because a product that we paid a lot of money for malfunctioned and injured my husband. So, what can you do when this happens? Read through my blog.