Pain after an accident or personal injury can severely disrupt your life and affect its quality. An experienced chronic pain lawyer can help you obtain fair compensation.

What is a Chronic Pain Lawyer?

When someone is involved in an accident or suffers a personal injury, it is common for them to experience pain and suffering as a result of their injuries. In some cases, that pain becomes chronic, seriously impacting the person’s life.

A chronic pain lawyer can help you recover from the severe pain and suffering you are experiencing as a result of a personal injury. They work with you to assess the extent of your injuries, pain and suffering, and damages. They help you file a claim based on your chronic pain syndrome against the parties who caused your underlying personal injury and their insurance companies. They work on your behalf during settlement negotiations and at trial, working to get fair and reasonable compensation for your damages.

Why Do People Suffer From Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain is typically characterized as pain that lasts longer than three months, although that definition can vary according to your medical provider. It is considered to be a long-term condition, impacting your quality of life significantly. Injuries that are untreated or not fully treated can turn into chronic pain, often as a result of severe nerve damage or trauma to the nervous system. Some chronic pain sufferers note that the pain can cause muscle spasms, muscle weakness, burning, stiffness, soreness, and shooting pains. For some, the pain may be mild or moderate, while other sufferers describe it as serious. The pain may be continuous and constant, or it may come and go.

Many different types of injuries can lead to chronic pain syndrome. For example, being involved in a motor vehicle accident can leave you with a serious back or spinal injury, and your pain may continue even after you receive treatment, such as in the case of a herniated disc or a pinched nerve. Or, you may be left with a neck injury and whiplash, resulting in long-lasting pain and discomfort. Other types of personal injuries can also lead to chronic pain—for instance, you might experience lasting back pain after a slip-and-fall accident, or ongoing pain after a concussion or traumatic brain injury suffered at work.

How Can Chronic Pain Impact People’s Lives and Ability to Work?

Many people describe chronic pain as debilitating, affecting the quality of the victim’s life substantially. Someone who suffers from chronic pain may be unable to attend to even the simplest life matters, from going to work to taking care of their families to managing their households. 

Chronic pain can also affect the activities they once enjoyed, whether that be playing with their children, exercising, or engaging in outdoor activities. Moreover, chronic pain can cause serious mental anguish and psychological trauma; sufferers sometimes develop depression, anxiety, or other mental health problems.

How Can an Experienced Lawyer Help with the Recovery Process?

An experienced chronic pain lawyer in Hamilton can help you recover the damages you’ve suffered as a result of your chronic pain. These damages can include specific costs, such as the cost of medical treatments, doctor’s visits, appointments with pain management specialists, and prescription medications.

The process typically begins by filing a claim against the responsible parties, as well as their insurance companies. Your claim will detail the basis of liability for your injuries, which generally involves a negligence claim. To prove negligence, your lawyer will need to show that the other party breached a duty of reasonable care, directly causing your damages. In the case of a car accident, for example, your lawyer will need to show that the other party failed to drive with reasonable caution, whether that be speeding, disobeying the laws of traffic, or driving erratically; they will also need to show that the other party’s negligence directly caused your personal injuries and chronic pain.

A knowledgeable personal injury lawyer can help you prove both immediate and future damages in your chronic pain lawsuit. In addition to the specific costs you have incurred, your lawyer can claim future general damages for chronic pain, including the physical, emotional, and mental toll your pain takes on you. Additionally, your chronic pain lawyer in Ontario can help you recover lost income, whether that be income you’ve missed as a result of being unable to go to work after your accident or future income if you are no longer able to work in your current position as a result of your chronic pain. Your lawyer can also help you recover from the loss of enjoyment of activities as a result of your chronic pain, as well as the overall decrease in your quality of life.

To be able to prove your damages, your lawyer will need to put together a case based on evidence. This includes documentation of your injuries, such as thorough medical records and notes from your doctor, as well as your own accounts of your pain and suffering, such as a daily journal of your pain levels. Documenting your expenses is also important, as this will help your lawyer establish the true value of your damages and persuade the other party or their insurer to offer a fair and reasonable settlement.

Proving chronic pain syndrome and the damages it has caused can be a complex, lengthy, and involved process. Having an experienced and knowledgeable personal injury lawyer by your side can make that process much more seamless.

Why Choose Derek Wilson?

I am a personal injury lawyer focused on helping people heal the hurt. My team and I handle a wide variety of personal injury cases in Hamilton and the surrounding areas, including cases that deal with chronic pain syndrome.

If you have questions about your chronic pain claim, call us today and we’ll answer all of them and determine if we can help you obtain fair compensation. For a free consultation with Derek Wilson call us at 855-769-0418 or fill out a request form.