Sometimes, insurance companies use a claimant’s long-term injury as a reason for decreasing the size of the awarded compensation. Still, a smart claimant can use that same long-term injury as a tool, when seeking a settlement with a higher value.
Types of long-term injuries
Scars or other form of disfigurement: The more visible the scar or disfigurement, the greater the value of the negotiated settlement.
Back injury: the greater the amount of pain produced by this condition, the higher the settlement’s value. In addition, the greater the loss of mobility, due to the existence of the back injury, the larger the amount of money that should be offered in the settlement.
Device implanted in body as a form of treatment: Injury returns if that device becomes infected or broken. Hence, the injured plaintiff could face the need to deal with repeated surgeries. That could lead to creation of a less-than-impressive resume.
Questions to be considered in an effort to increase the settlement’s value
Did the accident have a long-lasting effect on the victim? How did it affect the victim’s life? Understand that even residual injuries can have an effect on the person that needs to live with that same injury.
Steps to be taken by those that want to use a long-term injury as a means for increasing a settlement’s value
• Be sure that information on the plaintiff’s medical history has been placed in the plaintiff’s medical records.
• Keep this information updated, especially if it contains the results obtained during a recent physical examination.
Have the treating doctor mention in the plaintiff’s medical record any thoughts on the likelihood of a recurring problem, as a result of the accident-related injury. Understand that the imagined problem does not have to concern the plaintiff’s physical condition. It could relate to difficulties encountered, when searching for or applying for a job.
Personal Injury Lawyer in Richmond Hill will ask the treating physician to enter in the plaintiff’s medical history any thoughts on degenerative problems that might arise in the future, owing to the existence of the plaintiff’s long-term condition. For instance, if someone with a traumatic brain injury has had to receive an implanted ventricular shunt, then that device could get associated with future degenerative problems.
Science has shown that an adult’s head tends to shrink, as the same adult ages. That shrinkage means less room for the fluid-filled ventricles inside of the brain. In order to compensate for the added pressure, the implanted shunt needs to work a great deal harder. At the same time, the installed shunt has been functioning for quite some time. Consequently, the added pressure could have the ability to trigger a malfunction in that previously reliable device. So, the facts highlight the device’s problems.