Do All Long Beach Personal Injury Cases Involve Physical Injury?
Do All Long Beach Personal Injury Cases Involve Physical Injury
?
There is no doubt that most personal injury claims involve physical injury. But often, physical injury is accompanied by psychological injury. One example is loss of self image, when a permanently disabled individual loses independence or the psychological effects of permanent scarring come into play.
But it is also possible to suffer psychological damage from a severe accident when claimants have experienced no physical injury. Consider the following examples:
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): A passenger in a car may be fortunate to escape any significant physical injury after a violent car crash. But, that passenger may experience extreme fear or even flashbacks to the incident that prevents him or her from getting back into a car. That passenger can file a claim for the trauma to collect for psychological treatment, or even potentially for lost work or other expenses incurred due to the inability to ride in cars.
Loss of affection: When permanent injury renders an accident victim incapable of providing emotional support to family members, those family members can file a personal injury claim to compensate them for loss of affection.
Other psychological trauma: It is possible that witnesses to an accident can be severely psychologically affected. Consider what can happen when a mother witnesses an accident that causes injury to her child. Even when the mother was not responsible for the accident, the experience can cause her to blame herself to the extent that she no longer feels capable of meeting her parental responsibilities.
The importance of an experienced Long Beach personal injury attorney
A skilled personal injury attorney in Long Beach works with clients to determine the full scope of damages resulting from an accident. Even during your initial interview, your attorney can often identify all parties who sustained both physical and non-physical injuries recognized under the law.