When is asking for pain and suffering appropriate?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
When is asking for pain and suffering appropriate?
My son had a medical situation during practice at his school over the summer. He was participating in both summer works for basketball and football with about 30 minutes in between the 2 activities. After the last
workout for the day he collapsed on the floor with major cramping. No trained medical staff was on duty and the coaches had no clue what to do. They tried pinching out the cramps, water, Gatorade but nothing helped. Long story short, after about 45 minutes they notified me. I got off work to take him to get medical treatment. My neighbor who is a nurse was picking up her son and mine that day was outside waiting on him and did know that he was in such pain. She went into the locker to check on him and immediately told them to call paramedics as the cramps was moving up his side they started in his legs. He was taken to the hospital with a 3 day stay for rhabdomyolysis. The school’s athletic director and football head coach both assured me the bills would be taken care of. Now a year later bills haven’t been paid. I’ve been back and worth with district office and the insurance that they provide only paid about $400 on an almost $10,000 bill. Once I started
taking about getting a lawyer, I was told about a secondary policy they have. They have now agreed to pay the balance of what’s left my insurance paid a huge part. They have not mentioned pain and suffering for my son or myself. He was demotted and lost his starting position after this incident.
Asked on October 9, 2019 under Personal Injury, South Carolina
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 4 years ago | Contributor
Pain and suffering is always appropriate in a personal injury claim. Compensation for pain and suffering is an amount in addition to the medical bills and is based on the medical reports which document your son's injury and medical treatment. There isn't any mathematical formula for determining compensation for pain and suffering. It depends on the facts of the case, the injury, medical treatment and whether or not there was a full recovery or there are residual complaints which require future treatment. This is not a comprehensive list, but just examples of factors to consider regarding compensation for pain and suffering.
Compensation for the medical bills is straight reimbursement.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.