Pain is personal. Unlike
temperature, blood pressure, or other symptoms easily measured and defined,
pain is hard to quantify. Each
individual describes pain and its intensity differently. Since chronic pain is difficult to define and
diagnose, it poses a challenge to victims of accidents who suffer this type of
injury. Chronic pain lawyers offer
knowledge in representing accident victims suffering from chronic pain.
What Qualifies
as Chronic Pain?
According to Statistics
Canada, approximately 1 in 10 Canadians between the ages of 12-44, or 1.5
million people, experience chronic pain. Different from acute pain, chronic pain can
last for weeks, months, or even years. Chronic pain can manifest itself anywhere in
the body, including the brain and/or spinal cord.
Common
Causes
One of the most common causes of chronic pain arises from personal
injury through car accidents. Victims may experience a broad spectrum of
injuries, from concussion or fractures, to brain or spinal injuries. It is
possible to win disability benefits for chronic pain by proving that you have a
pain-related impairment.
Another type of personal
injury that is often associated with chronic pain is slip and fall accidents. Falling
accidents cause individuals to be at particular risk of injuring their back or
spine.
Threshold
for Proving Chronic Pain Claims
Proving a chronic pain claim is contingent on meeting a certain
threshold. The threshold to prove a chronic pain claim
under Ontario’s Insurance Actrequires that your injuries result in permanent serious disfigurement, or a
permanent serious impairment of important physical, mental, or psychological function.
To meet the criteria of a serious
impairment, a person’s injury or disability must:
- Substantially interfere with their
ability to continue their regular employment, despite reasonable attempts
to accommodate their impairment, or
- Substantially interfere with their
ability to continue to train in their chosen career, despite reasonable
attempts to accommodate the impairment, or
- Substantially interfere with most of
the person’s normal activities of daily living.
Some important steps that can significantly increase the
chances of making a successful personal injury claim for chronic pain, include:
- Employing a rehabilitation expert who
can assess the injured person’s expected recovery process. This assessment
contributes to an objective means for calculating damages for such losses
as lost future earnings, pain, and
suffering.
- Consulting with a well-respected
medical professional and expert on chronic pain syndrome to evaluate and
assess the injured person, who can explain and testify to the validity of
the condition.
- Obtaining solid evidence, showing that
the accident was of a type and force to cause serious physical injury.
Accident victims whose injuries
result in chronic pain should take steps to contribute to a strong case for
compensation. Chronic pain lawyers also make sure that
the strongest case is put forward.
It is always more challenging to prove chronic pain cases; it
is the job of a good personal injury lawyer to make invisible injuries visible
to a judge or jury. Chronic pain lawyers will help determine your best
options.