Qamer Javed
When we think about seeking compensation for damages in accidents, most of us just think of tangible damages that we can see, like medical bills, lost wages, and property or vehicle damages.
However, someone’s negligence doesn’t just ruin your life financially; it also shatters the mental health of accident victims and affects their day-to-day life, trapping them with residues of the events that put them in misery. These are called non-economic damages.
If you’re someone close to the victim or you are one yourself, you can seek compensation for non-economic damages with a proper personal injury attorney’s help, who knows how to collect evidence for non-economic damages to calculate your full compensation.
Non-economic damages aren’t just limited to a single definition. There is a wide range of definitions covering what non-economic damages are. However, some of the most commonly cited non-economic damages are:
1. Pain and Suffering
The pain and suffering you have to endure during hospitalization and the persistent ones that last post-stabilization after being discharged from the hospital can be compensated.
Both acute pain that only exists for a short time during the initial injury and chronic pain that lingers even after your initial injuries have recovered are taken into account while calculating your pain and suffering damages, with chronic pain being awarded more.
Suffering and discomfort as a result of the pain that comes along with it are calculated in your non-economic damages.
2. Loss of Enjoyment of Life
Before the accident, the victims had a life with upcoming plans and enjoyments they eagerly looked forward to. Losing the ability to live their life properly during the time of recovery and hospitalization can be compensated for.
An attorney can address the diminished quality of life of the victims and what they lost because of the at-fault party’s negligence. Factors like hobbies, daily activities, spending time with kids or pets, and recreational activities are factored into their non-economic damages.
3. Mental or Emotional Distress
It’s common for accident victims to develop emotional distress or mental anguish, triggered by the trauma of the incident, appearing in episodes, subjecting them to depression, anxiety, PTSD, fear, and grief.
In some cases, when victims experience extensive injuries with painful, prolonged pain, it can subject them to lifelong trauma. The victim has to go through countless therapies throughout their lives to slowly heal the mental scars caused by the incident.
4. Loss of Consortium or Companionship
Family members of the victims, mostly spouses or domestic partners and children, can seek compensation when the dynamics of their relationships were wrecked because of someone’s negligence.
Spouses lose the emotional support, love, sexual or physical intimacy, affection, and companionship, while children lose the sense of guidance, care, and emotional support as well.
The time of these lost relationships can be calculated in accordance with the duration of hospitalization until the time they reached full recovery physically and mentally.
5. Disability or Disfigurement
Unlike medical bills being calculated in economic damages for your injuries and disfigurement, non-economic damages focus on how the disfigurement or disability caused by the accident has affected the quality of your life.
Disfigurement like scars, burns, or other permanent changes in your appearance and loss of mobility limit the victim from living the life they want. They have to face societal stigma with a disfigured appearance, lower self-esteem, and an inability to work properly again in some cases.
Key Takeaways
- Pain from injuries the victim has to endure, and the suffering that comes along with it.
- Inability to engage in the same activities the victim once enjoyed.
- Mental or emotional anguish, such as depression, PTSD, anxiety, and fear.
- Lost relationship dynamics with spouses, domestic partners, or children.
- Disfigurement or disability that disables victims from working again and lowers their self-esteem.
