Personal Injury Law

Are Insurance Companies failing to recognize that pain and suffering should be compensated?

By Troy Schwant

It is becoming more and more evident that Insurance companies are taking the position that your medical bills are the only matter they are going to take into consideration when evaluating your claim. This hard and fast rule is elminating compensation for genuine pain and suffering that people experience from car wrecks or other accidents. They are using a broad brush by not considering the pain and suffering some accident victims go through after being involved in an accident. So the question is why are they doing this and how did it get to this point?

The answer of course is money, both in the why and the how. The why is easy, they don't want to pay money on a claim for someone who claims to have suffered every day for two months in recovering from an auto accident, yet only has 3,000.00 in medical bills. They take the position that this case is only worth a little more than the medical bills, and if you don't take their offer, then sue them. Anyone that has recovered from an auto accident knows that the days, weeks, and months that follow an auto accident can be very difficult, you can miss work, be unable to enjoy your family, and essentially be in pain every day. To argue that a person shouldn't be compensated for suffering through this pain, that was caused by someone else, is simply repugnant.

Now, lets get to the how. How have insurance companies been able to take this position with people that have been hurt? The answer again is money, but it is not as easy you think. Insurance companies have spent millions, not on claims, but in election campaigns, and advertisements that talk about rising insurance costs, and bogus lawsuits and have convinced the American public that if someone has filed a lawsuit, that person is just a money grubbing liar, who wasn't even hurt in the first place. Unfortunately this perception has taken hold of far too many Americans. The perception is that people that file lawsuits, want to file lawsuits, when the reality is that 99% of the people that file lawsuits do not want to file a lawsuit, but have no other choice based on the insurance company failing to negotiate with them fairly.

The next time you hear a comment about sue happy Plaintiffs, just remember that the person making this comment, has probably never been in an accident and made a claim to be compensated. If they had, they would be singing a different tune.

Full post as published by Mobile Personal Injury Lawyer on September 16, 2009 (boomark / email).