Your personal injury accident may be something incomparable to any bad experience you have had before. Being “shaken up” by the event may be too small or diminishing a term to describe what you are actually feeling. In reality, you may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Of course, this may seriously affect your daily life, and you may want to seek relief of some sort. With that being said, please follow along to find out whether personal injury lawsuits cover PTSD and how an experienced Pasco County personal injury lawyer at Merricks Law Group, P.A., can help you get the financial and emotional help you need to feel better.
What types of personal injury accidents can cause PTSD?
You can never predict how your experience in a personal injury accident will affect you going forward. While your physical injuries may have long since healed, you may still be dealing with a debilitating PTSD condition. Below are the most common types of accidents in which this may be a reality for victims:
- Auto accidents: You may develop PTSD due to the shock of the impact or witnessing the serious injuries or death of other involved parties.
- Workplace accidents: You may develop PTSD due to the sound of the explosion or witnessing a machinery malfunction or a coworker’s fall.
- Medical malpractice accidents: You may develop PTSD due to emergency complications during a surgical procedure or childbirth.
- Violent attack accidents: You may develop PTSD due to an unexpected mugging, armed robbery, or sexual assault on another party’s premises.
Can I file a personal injury lawsuit for my PTSD?
In short, your PTSD may be a compensable injury in your personal injury claim so long as you can prove that it has caused your verifiable harm. First, it may help if you get this mental health condition officially diagnosed by a medical professional. They may even testify on your associated symptoms, such as panic attacks, sleep issues, loss of concentration, avoidance behaviors, etc.
From here, you must prove that your medical professional has since prescribed you medications and recommended you to mental health counseling sessions, with them or another licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, which have caused you to incur significant medical costs.
Also, you may demonstrate that your condition is so serious that it has caused you to take time away from work, which translates into considerable lost wages. This may be especially relevant if you experienced a workplace accident, and you have a fear of returning to the job position or worksite that prompted your catastrophic injury.
With these proven economic damages, you may also seek financial compensation for your non-economic damages. That is, with PTSD, you may also claim pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and/or strain on relationships. You may also fight for punitive damages if you believe the defendant acted recklessly or intentionally.
To conclude, when it comes to your personal injury claim, you should not settle for anything less than spectacular legal representation. So please hire us to help with your claim proceedings. A talented Pasco County personal injury lawyer at Merricks Law Group, P.A., looks forward to working with you.