If you’ve had the misfortune of injuring your elbow due to someone else’s negligence – perhaps while at work or perhaps in an accident – you may want to seek compensation for your injuries. In calculating the costs, it’s important to consider your legal remedies and the value of your injury including both economic and non-economic (or pain and suffering) damages. It is important to include short and long term costs in your analysis.
Pecuniary Damages
To begin with, you want to determine the total amount of economic loss caused by the injury. Medical bills are usually the first consideration in this regard. But you should also consider pecuniary losses such as costs related to rehabilitation, income and any other less obvious expenses as they do add up.
Determining the exact amount of your medical bills can vary from case to case, depending on the severity and type of your injury. Your medical expenses will also be determined by the kind of treatment you require.
Health care in the United States costs twice as much as the second most expensive country. So something as simple as an elbow injury could result in significant medical expenses. If you’re injury doesn’t require surgery and you don’t have health care, you could spend anywhere from less than $500 to over $3,000, according to CostHelper.com. If you do need surgery, you could end up paying anywhere from $10,000 to $16,000. For instance, if you were to have surgery on your tendon at Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center, you might have to pay between $9,313 and $13,064. And even with insurance, you could end up paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Lost Income
If you experience an intense injury such as a deep laceration or a fracture, you may need to take time away from work for recovery or physical therapy, which could mean losing income. If your income is diminished as a result of the injury, you should be sure to include the lost wages in your overall calculations. In order to substantiate these losses, it’s imperative to keep pay stubs or some official documentation showing your normal rate of pay as well as lost time at work.
Long-Term Losses
Additionally, the injury may force you into long-term physical therapy or cause you to lose your job. These would constitute long-term losses that should be included in your compensation. To that end, you would need documentation showing the weekly/monthly costs associated with therapy. In addition, you may be able to use your pay stubs to estimate potential losses in future income. Long-term losses can add a decent amount of money to your compensation.
Incidental Costs
In the end, you want to keep records for expenses that would not have come up if not for the injury. This includes money spent on meals, parking or entertainment while at the hospital or rehabilitation facility.
Pain and Suffering Damages
In addition to economic losses, you may have experienced substantial pain as a result of the injury. If that is the case, you want to include non-economic damages in your totals. This can be anything from physical pain to emotional distress or humiliation.
To prove that you have suffered in this way, it is essential to have concrete documentation that can substantiate your claims. For instance, if you now suffer from acute anxiety, it would be very helpful to have documentation from a therapist saying that you have anxiety and that it was caused by the injury.
Ultimately, it’s probably a good idea to hire an experienced injury attorney. With a lawyer by your side, you won’t have to worry about whether you’re missing something along the way and you won’t have to go through this stressful process all alone.
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