How Pain and Suffering Are Counted in an Injury Case

By Your Health Magazine

After a serious accident, the financial toll is easy to see in the hospital bills, physical therapy costs, and time off work. But what about the emotional and physical pain you have been through?

That is where pain and suffering damages come into play. And while they are just as real as your medical bills, they are far harder to put a price on.

Therefore, when filing a personal injury claim, it is crucial to understand how insurance companies and courts work to calculate pain and suffering damages because the outcome can significantly affect your final settlement.

What Is Pain and Suffering?

Pain and suffering refer to the non-economic losses you experience due to an injury. These are invisible injuries like chronic pain, anxiety, PTSD, depression, sleepless nights, or the inability to enjoy hobbies or time with loved ones like you used to.

It also includes more visible but hard-to-quantify damages such as permanent scarring. These losses do not come with receipts or invoices, which is what makes them trickier to evaluate. Yet, they can often be the most deeply felt consequences of an injury.

Methods Used to Measure Pain and Suffering

There is no single, nationwide formula for calculating pain and suffering. However, two methods are commonly used:

1. The Multiplier Method

This is the most frequently used approach. You start with the total amount of your economic damages, including medical expenses, lost wages, and other out-of-pocket costs.

That total is then multiplied by a number, usually between 1.5 and 5, depending on the severity of your injury. For instance, if your economic damages total $30,000 and your injury was moderate but not life-altering, the insurance company or court might apply a multiplier of 2.

That would bring your pain and suffering award to $60,000. So, what determines the multiplier? Several factors come into play:

The seriousness of the injury
Length of recovery time
Permanent physical limitations
Emotional and mental trauma
Strength of the medical evidence
How the other party is at fault

Generally, the more severe and lasting the injury, the higher the multiplier.

2. The Per Diem Method

The per diem method assigns a daily dollar amount for the pain and suffering you endure from the date of your injury until you reach maximum medical improvement. For example, if you and your attorney decide that $200 per day is a fair rate and your recovery takes 100 days, your pain and suffering damages would be $20,000.

The challenge here lies in justifying the daily rate. Courts and insurance companies may push back on what they see as inflated per diem claims, especially if the injury is less severe or the daily rate seems disproportionate.

Proving Your Pain and Suffering

Unlike hospital bills, pain and suffering are not easily proven. You will need to build a case using a mix of personal, medical, and sometimes expert documentation, including the one below.

Medical records and doctor’s notes
Therapist reports or psychiatric evaluations
Photos of injuries
Personal testimony about how your life has changed
Statements from family and friends
A pain journal detailing your daily struggles and limitations

The more specific you are, the more powerful your case becomes. For example, saying, “My back hurts,” is not nearly as compelling as explaining that you have not been able to lift your child or sit through dinner without pain for three months.

Conclusion

While pain and suffering may be subjective, they are very real, and courts recognize that. The key is to support your claim with strong documentation and a well-planned legal strategy.

An experienced personal injury lawyer can help you determine the value of pain and suffering damages and present your case in a way that genuinely reflects the hardships you have endured.