Legal Tips on Helping Your Family After Suffering a Serious Injury

It’s never easy to see a family member suffer from a serious injury. Whether it’s a car accident, workplace injury, or any other type of incident, the road to recovery can be long and difficult. Helping them go to and from their appointments and all throughout their recovery journey is important. It’s also important to know that there are things you can do to ensure their legal rights are protected as well. Here are a few key legal tips on helping your family after suffering a serious injury.

Legal Tips on Helping Your Family

 Determining Fault

Determining fault is one of the first and most important steps in taking legal action after a serious injury. However, before you can do that, you need to understand what fault means in the legal sense. Generally speaking, fault refers to who is responsible for the accident or injury.

In order to take any legal action, you must be able to prove that another party was at fault and that their negligence led to the injury. In addition, as a personal injury lawyer in Inverness explains, there are no-fault insurance systems in some states. This means that no matter who is determined to be at fault for the accident, each party’s own insurance will cover their damages up to a certain limit. That means that as long as the Personal Injury Protection (PIP) policy is not exceeded, an injured person can’t sue the at-fault driver for their injuries.

That said, if the PIP is exhausted, or if the injuries are above and beyond what is typically covered by PIP, then the at-fault driver can be sued for personal injury damages. The person at fault can be the other driver, a manufacturer, a retailer, a business, an employee, or even a friend or a family member. In any case, you need to help the injured person gather evidence to support their claim that another party is at fault. This can include things like eyewitness testimony, photos or videos of the accident, police reports, and medical records.

Pain And Suffering

There are two kinds of damages that can be recovered in a personal injury lawsuit: economic and non-economic. Economic damages are things like medical bills, lost wages, and property damage. Non-economic damages, on the other hand, are more difficult to quantify. They include things like pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium.

While some courts tend to overlook punitive damages, it’s no secret that getting seriously injured can cause an emotional trauma that significantly alters a person’s daily life. They may be unable to work, enjoy their hobbies, or even spend time with their family and friends. In some cases, the effects of an injury can be so severe that they lead to depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

If you believe that your family member is suffering from any of these conditions, be sure to bring it to the attention of their doctor or mental health professional. Gross negligence or intentional harm may also be grounds to seek punitive damages from the at-fault party.

Medical Costs

One of the most important things to consider is the cost of their medical treatment. This can include everything from ambulance rides and hospital stays to surgeries, prescriptions, physical therapy, and more. In some cases, the injured person may require long-term or even lifelong care. It’s important to keep track of all of the medical expenses incurred so that they can be included in the personal injury claim.

This will help ensure that the at-fault party is held responsible for the full extent of the damages. Since the cost of medical care can be so high, and often unpredictable, many personal injury lawyers work on a contingency basis. This means that they only get paid if and when the client receives a settlement or verdict in their favor. It may be advisable to seek out an attorney who works on a contingency basis if the family is struggling to pay for medical care.

Lost Wages

Another important consideration after a family member suffers a serious injury is the loss of their income. If they are unable to work, even for a short period of time, it can have a significant financial impact on the family. This is why it’s important to include lost wages in the personal injury claim and get help from an experienced workers’ comp lawyer. In some cases, the injured person may be unable to return to their previous job or may be forced to take a lower-paying job.

If this is the case, future lost earnings should also be included in the claim. An experienced personal injury lawyer will be able to help calculate the number of lost wages that should be included in the claim. This can help the entire family, as the financial burden of the injury will be significantly lessened.

No one ever wants to see a family member suffer a serious injury. But if it does happen, it’s important to know that there are things you can do to help. Be sure to gather evidence, get medical treatment, and contact an experienced personal injury lawyer. These steps will help ensure that your family is taken care of both physically and financially.