Central New York Injury Lawyer Blog

In my last blog post, I explained that “pain and suffering” is an important part of compensation sought in a personal injury lawsuit. Personal injury lawyers here in Central New York, and everywhere else for that matter, tend to lump the two words, “pain” and “suffering”, together as if they meant the same thing. But they don’t. There is a difference between “pain” and “suffering”. That’s what today’s blog is about.

Generally, “pain” is the physical part of the equation. For example, fractures, broken bones and nerve impingements all cause physical pain. Suffering, on the other hand, is the mental and emotional harm that physical pain can cause. The physical pain inhibits the victim’s ability to work, exercise, or do his or her normal routines. For example, a victim of an accident may not be able to go bowling anymore, or not be able to hold his or her child. This can cause serious psychological suffering, including anxiety, sadness and depression. That is what we call “suffering”.

If the pain is long term, then the suffering is usually correspondingly greater. Long term disabilities can cause a lot of “suffering”. They can create a permanent and dramatic change in lifestyle and life outlook, leading to depression, fear, panic attacks, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or even suicidal thoughts.

“Pain and suffering” is the ugly duckling of personal injury damage claims. Many people roll their eyes when those three words are spoken, especially when spoken by personal injury lawyers. The concept is so unpopular, so despised, that when Syracuse and Central New York personal injury and medical malpractice lawyers pick juries for trial, one of the most important questions we ask, to see whether a juror can be fair, is, “what do you think of awarding compensation for pain and suffering”? Many, many prospective jurors say, “I’m against it” or like words.

Yet New York personal injury law entitles victims of the careless, negligent or intentional acts of others to FULL compensation for all their losses, including lost wages, medical expenses and, yes, “pain and suffering”. Why? Think of the “scale of justice” (pictured on this page). When someone is injured through someone else’s fault, the scale tips down on one side. The “down” side is where the victim is. The whole idea of our civil justice system is to tip the scale back up to a balanced state again. If someone has suffered lost wages, medical expenses, and pain and suffering, would the scale be tipped upright again if he or she were compensated only for lost wages and medical expenses, but not pain and suffering?

Unfortunately, people seriously injured in an accident don’t just jump up off the pavement, brush themselves off, and go on with their lives as if nothing happened. Pain and Suffering sometimes lasts a lifetime. The victim’s way of life can be completely altered. It converts athletes into couch potatoes. It turns happy people into sad, anxious people. It turns families upside down when one parent, or child, is constantly in pain.