Suffering injuries from accidents, mishaps, crashes, errors, and other sources can be a frustration situation. You may take weeks or months to heal and have to alter your daily life and activities to cope with and accommodate your damages. Even after the physical injuries heal, you may suffer residual effects that last even longer. This lingering chronic pain can take control of your life and cause further damage, especially to your mental state. In the aftermath of an accident, you should seek legal assistance to pursue compensation against the responsible party that caused your injuries. Living with chronic pain should not be an option for anyone, and your medical treatments and other suffering should be compensated. Our California chronic pain compensation lawyers at Normandie Law Firm in Los Angeles are here to assist victims of chronic pain in receiving the restitution they deserve.
Chronic Pain Overview
Chronic pain often results from severe injuries. It is characterized by its duration of lasting longer than six months. Often, it is present in the aftermath of healed injuries, as it is to be expected that you will feel pain while still wounded.
Minor damages like lacerations and illnesses usually have no residual effects, and moderate damages, like broken bones and fractures, may only have a small amount of pain as and after they heal. Often, the lingering pain comes from lack of use of the body part or from re-strengthening it after it atrophied or was unused for some time.
Severe injuries are the most commonly viewed causes of chronic pain. These damages usually feature some form of nerve, muscle, or tissue damage or have a profound and impactful effect on the nervous system. Such injuries include:
- Traumatic Brain Injuries
- Back and Spinal Cord Injuries
- Arthritis
- Fibromyalgia
- Severed Limbs
- Infection
- Organ Removal
Identifying chronic pain is simple as a victim – it is the presence of pain in different varieties. However, it can be hard to identify it as a medical professional.
Symptoms of chronic pain include:
- Burning sensation
- Sensitivity to touch, cold, heat, and more
- Flare ups
- Dull ache
- Throbbing
- Soreness
- Stiffness
In some cases, a condition can arise called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, which affects various parts of the boy and causes intense pain from the point of an injury. You may break your wrist or ankle, which are bones that are stressed daily; continually using them after an injury can cause chronic pain. Similarly, if you suffer a back injury that does not get proper treatment, or if your spinal cord is affected, the pain may not stop for months.
An accident lawyer for chronic pain can help you receive compensation for your damages.
Causes of Chronic Pain
You may suffer injuries in any number of ways. A few of the more common situations in which chronic pain can be sourced include:
- Car Accidents: Car accidents can cause injuries ranging from extremely minor to totally fatal. They are one of the leading causes of death in the country. Cars are heavy and travel very quickly, and if you are struck by one, the force caused by the mass and velocity can greatly damage you. You may have lingering pain for years after the accident, even if proper measures were taken to treat you. A small piece of metal could lodge somewhere in your body and cause pain, or the effects could be based off a traumatic shock to your spine.
- Trip and Falls: You may trip and fall or slip somewhere and hurt yourself, which can cause lasting pain. Common reasons for trip and falls include hazards on the walkway, slippery floors, torn carpeting, ice on the sidewalk, freshly waxed or washed corridors, and unsafe or faulty property. When you fall, you usually break the impact with your hands, which can cause damage to your wrists; you may also land awkwardly and hurt your hip or spine, which can trigger an overload of pain responses.
- Medical Malpractice: Unfortunately, some sources of chronic pain can be traced to a doctor or nurse’s error. Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare professional harms you in some way while you are under his or her care or stationed at a hospital or wellness facility. Surgical errors like snipping nerves or incorrectly setting broken bones are not uncommon, and some victims may not be aware that these are the causes. They naturally assume that they were taken care of by the doctor, not that they were harmed.
If you have been harmed in an accident and the damages resulted in chronic pain, contact a Los Angeles lawyer to get recovery for chronic pain problems. An attorney at our law firm will be able to help you pursue legal action.
Treatment of Chronic Pain
The issue with chronic pain is there is sometimes no clear cause or path forward to fix it. If a bone is broken, the procedure is to set it and keep it immobilized so it can heal. Infections have antibiotics that can be used to combat the sickness. Chronic pain may take numerous attempts to diagnose and may not be fixed by any one treatment in particular. Some of the ways it is treated include:
- Medication: Painkillers like Vicodin and Oxycontin are commonly prescribed in the aftermath of surgeries to deal with pain, but if it persists, there may be an extended prescription given to victims. However, you may build up a tolerance to the effects and require stronger or more painkillers. This can be dangerous and should be treated with caution.
- Therapy: Relaxation therapy and physical therapy can both help the pain subside. Relaxation therapy involves taking control of the mind and allowing it to calm down, while physical therapy involves pushing the affected body parts into action so they heal. You may be stretched and told to complete various exercises. Although it may hurt at first, eventually, the pain may subside.
- Acupuncture: There are various schools of medicine that subscribe to acupuncture to relieve certain stresses and pains in the body. A doctor may recommend a skilled acupuncturist if other treatments do not work. Acupuncture involves inserting small needles into various pressure points around the body.
- Lifestyle Changes: Often, a lot of injuries can heal faster if certain lifestyle changes are made. The presence of corrupt materials in the body through excessive smoking and consumption of alcohol, for example, may weaken you and cause a greater sensitivity to some damages. Stress is also known as the silent killer, and a reduction in stress can clear your mind and benefit your body to the point that your chronic pain may start to relieve itself. You may even find it in your best interests to alter hobbies, job choices, and relationships.
An attorney in Los Angeles can recommend you to an accomplished doctor who will give you recommendations for treating your chronic pain.
Compensation for Your Injuries
If your chronic pain were caused because of another party’s actions, you could receive various types of compensation for your damages. You may be able to sue for:
- Medical Expenses: Coverage of surgery fees, medication costs, physical therapy, and more, as well as coverage of any future medical treatments.
- Lost Wages: You may not be able to work after an injury and during the recovery process. You can receive compensation for these missed earnings.
- Pain and Suffering: Emotional damages stemming from the accident and injuries can take a long time to heal, if ever. You may receive restitution for psychological trauma, emotional stress, mental anguish, PTSD, anxiety, fear, and more. In medical malpractice cases, there is a cap of $250,000 on these damages.
Normandie: Here for You
At our Los Angeles law group, Normandie Law Firm, we promise to do everything we can to bring you compensation for your chronic pain. You should not have to suffer through lasting pain because of an injury that was caused by another individual. Any compensation that you can receive, we will pursue it. Our aggressive lawyers will work around the clock to ensure that you are taken care of, and we will not stop negotiating with the necessary insurance agency until you are satisfied with the settlement we bring you.
Call us today to receive a free consultation with a lawyer for chronic pain. If you have any questions about your case, we will answer them for you. We will also discuss your lawsuit and tell you what we believe we can earn for you. If you choose us to represent you, we will give you a zero fee guarantee on your claim, which promises that you will pay no out of pocket expenses for our services. We only get paid if we win your case. The money will be taken from the settlement offer from the insurance company. If we lose, you owe us nothing at all.
Contact Normandie Law Firm today to speak with a chronic pain injury lawyer in Los Angeles.
More Information
CPS FAQ: Chronic Pain Syndrome Frequently Asked Questions
Chronic Pain Syndrome Attorney | Nerve Damage Lawsuit
Injury Attorney for Wrist Pain After a Slip and Fall Accident
Shoulder Injury Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) Lawsuit
