What Damages Can You Claim? Medical Bills, Lost Wages, Pain & Suffering Explained

When you’re hurt in an accident, the money you can recover goes beyond the obvious hospital bills. A skilled personal injury lawyer helps translate the chaos of invoices, missed shifts, and emotional fallout into a clear claim. Below I’ll break down the main types of damages you can expect to see in a typical personal injury case.

Economic damages (tangible losses)
These are the concrete, pecuniary items with receipts: emergency room visits, surgery, physical therapy, prescription medication, medical devices, and future medical care projections. Lost wages are included here, too. If your paycheck stopped because of the injury, you can claim past lost wages and, when appropriate, diminished future earning capacity.

Non economic damages (intangible but real)
Pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, scarring, and loss of consortium fall into this bucket. They don’t come with itemized bills; instead, they’re assessed based on the severity, duration, and impact of the injury. Juries and insurers often value these using multipliers (a common negotiating tool) or per diem methods.

Special circumstances: punitive and property damages
Punitive damages punish particularly reckless conduct; they’re not guaranteed and depend on jurisdiction and facts. Property damage, such as a totaled car in a collision, is handled separately but typically negotiated alongside bodily injury claims.

How an injury attorney helps you
A personal injury attorney compiles medical records, reconstructs lost income using payroll records, and documents pain and daily limitations. That’s the sort of advocate who will speak with insurers on your behalf; they can also explain contingency fee arrangements, often described as “no win no fee” in some markets.

Practical tips
Document everything: photos, doctor notes, and a daily journal of pain and how it affects routine tasks. Don’t accept the first settlement offer; initial offers commonly undervalue long term consequences.

In short, you can claim medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and sometimes punitive damages or future care costs. Each claim is unique; an experienced injury lawyer helps translate your losses into a fair compensation strategy, whether it’s a car injury lawyer or a slip and fall attorney you ultimately need. #personalinjury #injurylawyer #caraccident