The civil lawsuit is a double edged sword. On the one hand, there is the infamous case of the woman who took McDonalds to court and won because her coffee was too hot, and she walked away with millions of dollars, which many people regard as proof that the legal system is broken. On the other hand, there are many people in the country, every single year, who are injured as the direct result of someone else’s incompetence, negligence or ignorance, and they are now, through no fault of their own, forced to live a life with a crippling injury that prevents them from living and working the way other people do.
While it’s true that someone getting millions of dollars for a burnt tongue may seem excessive to most people, when you put aside that kind of spectacular case, personal injury lawsuits often do far more good than harm. We’re going to look at something most people don’t think about or want to consider, and that’s the medical cost and considerations you have to look at after sustaining an injury.
Temporary Injuries
If you’re very lucky, the traffic accident, slip and fall or faulty product that caused you to get injured didn’t result in a permanent injury. Perhaps you’ve got whiplash, or maybe that fall caused a broken arm which will eventually heal. But that still means you need medical treatment, and in the case of some injuries, you may need to recover and be unable to earn a salary at your place of work while this takes place.
There are associated costs of hospitalization, treatment and medication as well as lost salary that all need to be accounted for during your recovery. If you are in no way responsible for the injury you’ve sustained, you should not be shouldering this financial burden.
Long Term Injuries
The even more unfortunate result of a personal injury is that it is debilitating and lifelong. For example, if you’re in an accident that involves the loss of your eyesight, or the amputation of your right arm, this is going to have a dramatic impact on your life. If you sustain a traumatic brain injury, this could have an impact on everything from how much of your life you remember to your ability to walk and use your limbs.
In some cases, these injuries will leave you completely unfit to resume your past job, meaning that, through no fault of your own, you are now unable to earn an honest salary. A personal injury lawsuit can, in such cases, provide the necessary financial compensation that will allow someone who is unable to work to still have the finances required to live out the remaining years. This can mean anything from simple living expenses, to the elaborate lifelong medical treatment that may be required, to the recovery and physiotherapy needed in order to regain some semblance of mobility, learn how to read braille and pay for a seeing eye dog’s maintenance now that vision is gone. This type of permanent injury will require years of financing in order to ensure that a decent of quality of life is still available.
Wrongful Death
The absolute, worst case scenario is if someone actually dies as a result of an accident or the subsequent injuries afterwards. In the case of adults with families, a wrongful death suit may be the only way that a bereaved spouse and children may be able to maintain the finances required in order to continue living their lives, especially if the plan was for the children to eventually go to college.
In the most tragic cases, children who are orphaned now haven’t just lost the love of their parents, but their entire future is in jeopardy now that there is no incoming financial support. A wrongful death lawsuit may be the only way to ensure that children who are robbed of their parents through someone else’s negligence can still have the financial security of knowing that there will funds available for food, shelter, education and all the other necessities required to grow into a productive adult.
It All Adds Up
In the majority of cases, the long term effects of a personal injury will require significant amounts of money, even though that money is unlikely to be able to return everything to “just the way it used to be.” Permanent injuries have lifelong effects, and the death of a family member can never truly be replaced.
But money is still required in order to recover, accept and get on with life. It is unfair for people who have done nothing wrong to shoulder the financial burden of this recovery when someone else was responsible for the harm or even death involved. A personal injury lawyer can ensure that justice is served.
