When you are injured in an automobile accident, you may want to think about keeping a pain journal. Your memory may fade over time and a pain journal will help you to recall specifics of your collision, injury, and associated problems, inconveniences, and difficulties that you may experience. Sometimes seemingly little things can make a significant difference in what is recovered. A pain journal can be a tool that a good injury lawyer can use to add depth and dimension to your claim and put more money in your pocket.
As your lawyer, I want to hear about the ways that the collision and your injury has affected you. While I do not require every client to keep a pain journal, it can be a good way to keep track of the specific difficulties of your injury. When you are done treating, the insurance carrier will use your medical record to evaluate your claim, but the medical record doesn’t tell everything.
Little details can help me to recover more money for you. Examples of specifics that have been persuasive in the past include a client that could only sleep in their special zero gravity chair with a pillow specially positioned in the middle of their back. While the medical record mentioned that the patient had “trouble sleeping,” this person’s specific journal of the pain and how they figured out a particular way to be able to sleep with minimal pain helped me to recover more money for them.
Other details such as difficulties at work, not being able to exercise, or play golf or other hobbies, missed or altered activities, and specific details about how the injury impacts the person’s life can make a difference in how much is recovered for the injury claim.
When keeping a pain journal, you should be specific. If at all possible, dates and times should be noted. I typically recommend that people record the initial pains, problems, inconvenience, issues, etc. of the initial injury. Then focus on the pain, set-backs, and improvements relating to the recovery. Although it is possible to record all of this at the end of treatment, the pain journal is typically better when it is done periodically through treatment.
This can also be therapeutic for the injured person and help them to better understand their injury and recovery. It can also help to realize something that is problematic for the particular person so they can get the proper medical care.
The pain journal should include as much detail and specifics as possible. For example, I recommend that my clients record their headaches, when they experienced each headache, how long it lasted, what they felt, where and how they felt pain, and how it impacted them and their day. Detail and specifics as to each injury can add a great deal to the claim that is not in the medical record and can result in a larger recovery.
A pain journal is particularly important for those with concussion injuries, concussion symptoms, or traumatic brain injuries. People do not always recognize their symptoms as relating to the collision or their brain injury. Injured people with difficulty walking, dental injury, disc injury, orthopedic and other serious injuries should also keep a pain/recovery journal.
The pain journal also preserves a record because memories fade and you may not remember all of the specific problems and difficulties when you are done treating that you might have at the time.
A pain journal can help you to recover, to better understand your injuries, and can be a tool that your lawyer can use to make a larger recovery for you.
When you are injured in a car accident you should always consult with an experienced injury lawyer. Having an experienced injury lawyer will help to make sure that you receive in-pocket compensation for your pain, suffering, trouble, and inconvenience. People do not always realize how complicated an injury claim can be. Keeping a pain journal can be one small thing to help your lawyer to make the best possible recovery for your injury claim.
