How Do You Quantify Loss of Quality of Life in Personal Injury Cases?

Originally published by Austin Personal Injury Blog.

 

People who have been injured due to someone else’s negligence can file a lawsuit to try and recover both economic and non-economic damages. To do this effectively, you need the help of a personal injury lawyer who understands the laws surrounding damages and has experience regarding the extent of injuries caused by automobile accidents and other types of accidents.

What Are Damages?

Economic damages are usually easy to calculate after reviewing medical bills, lost wages, and other expenses, but non-economic damages can be tougher to quantify. Discussions about non-economic damages centralize about changes and diminishment with ‘quality of life’ after someone gets injured. Aside from physical damage to the body, serious injuries can have a dramatic effect on someone’s daily life and their overall feelings of happiness, health, comfort, joy, wonder, and hope.

What is Quality of Life?

Quality of life refers to someone’s general well being and ability to enjoy normal life activities, like taking care of someone else or participating in recreational activities. Intangibles like loss of joy of living, damage to reputation, and feelings of disgrace also diminish quality of life in the wake of an injury.

Some common injuries that lead to diminished quality of life include paralysis, limb loss, trauma to the head, and instances of scarring or disfigurement.

Since quality of life encompasses much more than pain and suffering and includes a person’s subjective experiences, it can be hard to quantify in a personal injury case compared to hospital bills or medical expenses. As a result, courts, insurance companies, and other decision-makers look at a variety of factors when trying to quantify the loss of quality of life in a personal injury case.

Quantifying Loss of Quality of Life

Determining quality of life and how it has changed after an injury can be a complicated affair. When trying to quantify, decision makers often look at a person’s age, work history, personality, location, and educational history to get an idea about how compensation for loss of quality of life should be awarded.

Additionally, things like witness testimony, comparative fault, future consequences of an injury, and liability are other metrics decision makers take into account when trying to quantify the loss of quality of life.

Quality of Life Damages

Overall, damages for loss of quality of life are designed to help mitigate changes after an accident. For example, injury to a spouse might create conflicts in a marriage and lead to a lot of tension that was not seen before the injury. Awards are not designed to punish the guilty party but are intended to help compensate those experiencing losses.

If you or someone you love is has suffered an injury due to someone else’s negligence, it is important to speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer. You are the only one who understands how an injury has affected your quality of life. The right lawyer will be able to give professional help about how your feelings and emotions can be brought up in a case so you can receive compensation. Contact our Texas personal injury lawyers today for a free consultation.

Curated by Texas Bar Today. Follow us on Twitter @texasbartoday.

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