How To Prove Pain and Suffering

It’s difficult to describe what physical pain and emotional suffering feel like, and it can be even harder to prove it. Real documentation is the key to a successful pain-and-suffering personal injury claim. Here’s how to prove pain and suffering to increase your chances of full compensation under the law.

It’s really difficult to describe what physical pain and emotional suffering feel like, and it can be even harder to prove it. But if you’re pursuing a settlement offer after an injury, you’ll need to produce at least some evidence to support your claim. Otherwise, the at-fault party’s insurance company might try to reduce the amount you may be entitled to — or worse, refuse to pay out entirely.

We understand that this is a traumatic, stressful time, and you’d rather focus on recovery than chasing witness statements and medical records. However, the sooner you gather the evidence you can offer in your case, the better. Real documentation is the key to a successful pain-and-suffering personal injury claim, not guesswork.

Here’s how to prove pain and suffering to increase your chances of full compensation under the law.

What Is Pain and Suffering in a Personal Injury Case?

“Pain and suffering” is a term commonly used in personal injury law. It refers to the physical and emotional distress you unfortunately have to deal with after a car crash, slip and fall, dog bite, or other accident that wasn’t your fault.

Let’s break things down so you can understand what counts as pain and suffering:

• Pain: This is any physical pain you suffer after your injuries. It can range from soreness to moderate discomfort to chronic pain, which affects 24.3% of U.S. adults.
• Suffering: This is the mental impact of your injuries, such as anxiety, stress, or an inability to sleep properly. An emotional distress injury case often follows a traumatic accident, such as a car crash or dog bite.

Pain and suffering is a type of non-economic damage in personal injury law, which means it’s not associated with any financial loss. This is different from economic damages, which are measurable financial losses like lost wages and medical expenses.

What Evidence Helps Prove Pain and Suffering?

Knowing how to prove pain and suffering can make all the difference in your personal injury case. Here are some types of non-economic damages evidence that might strengthen your claim:

Medical Records for Pain and Suffering Evidence

Perhaps the strongest evidence you can provide is medical records from your healthcare provider. These directly link your injuries to your accident, creating an official account of what really happened.

Medical records come in various forms, but can include:

• Doctors’ notes
• Imaging scans
• Blood test results
• Hospital admissions
• Medication histories

We suggest you see a doctor as soon as possible after your accident. Doing so ensures you have a paper trail documenting your symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment, which can help insurers verify your claim.

Daily Journals

Can a journal help an injury claim? In many cases, yes. Think of it as a daily diary where you document your symptoms and how you generally feel each day.

You can include things like:

• How much pain you feel
• Your emotional loss and damages
• Whether you have difficulty moving or performing tasks

By keeping a consistent journal, you can show the true impact of your injuries on your day-to-day life in a way that official medical records probably can’t. For example, you can describe your real-world experiences and how day-to-day life has changed emotionally after your accident.

Testimony

Testimony is a more formal account of how your injury has affected you. Unlike a journal, which casually describes your experiences over time, you typically summarize everything that’s happened since your accident in a more structured way.

You may want to include details like:

• How your pain affects your ability to work
• How your loss of mobility affects activities and hobbies
• How you are unable to sleep or have difficulty sleeping through the night after what happened
• The effect of your injuries on your relationships

You may be required to give testimony, either in writing or orally, if your personal injury case ends up in court. This can happen if the responsible party’s insurance company undervalues your claim or refuses to pay compensation.

While this sounds scary, it doesn’t have to be. The attorneys at Kanner & Pintaluga can support you at every step of the process and represent your best interests in front of a judge.

Photos and Videos

Visual evidence also helps you prove the extent of your injuries and their impact on your life. You can take photos and videos that show the effects of your accident, such as any difficulty you have performing tasks because of mobility problems. We recommend storing photos and videos in the cloud in case you lose your device.

Witness Statements

Anyone who saw your accident may be able to verify your version of events and help you present a strong case. You can also ask family and friends to describe how your injuries have impacted your life or affected your behavior.

Why Consistency Matters in Pain and Suffering Claims

Consistency is important when proving non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering. For instance, keeping a daily journal and showing up at doctor’s visits helps you build a continuous record of your recovery that can strengthen your credibility. In other words, you can show that your injuries are ongoing and genuine.

If you have gaps in medical treatment or forget to record new symptoms and experiences, insurers may find it more difficult to believe that what you’re saying is true. That can make the personal injury process a lot more stressful.

How Insurance Companies Challenge a Pain and Suffering Personal Injury Claim

In our experience, insurers almost never take victims’ statements at face value, especially at the beginning of negotiations. They may question your injuries or argue that your symptoms aren’t that serious, even though you know that’s not true. Now that you know how to prove pain and suffering, learn the different things these companies might say to delay or deny your claim:

“You Don’t Have Enough Evidence”

This one comes up often when injury victims try to negotiate a fair settlement, especially in a high-value case. The insurance company may say someone doesn’t have enough evidence to link their injuries to their accident and use that as an excuse not to pay out.

“You Had a Pre-Existing Condition”

Another common tactic we see is an insurance company blaming an injury on a pre-existing condition. For example, they might argue that a victim’s back pain was the result of something that occurred years ago, rather than a recent car crash.

“You Have Gaps in Medical Treatment”

This happens frequently, too. If the victim didn’t see a doctor straight away after their accident, insurers might say their injuries aren’t that serious. These companies can also delay or deny a claim if a victim misses medical appointments or doesn’t keep up with a treatment plan.

It’s not uncommon for an insurance company to challenge what you say and claim your evidence isn’t good enough. The best way to avoid this is to collect as much documentation of pain and suffering as possible and ensure your account of what happened remains consistent.

How to Strengthen a Pain and Suffering Claim

There are several things you can do to increase the chances of a successful pain and suffering claim and get compensation that may be legally yours:

Get Medical Help Immediately

We recommend seeing a doctor as quickly as possible after your accident, even if you don’t think your injuries are that bad. Leaving things too long might make insurers suspicious, so get checked within the first few hours if you can.

Collect Evidence at the Scene

If it’s safe to do so and you or a companion is able, we suggest taking photos and videos of your injuries and the accident scene. This at-the-scene evidence can make it harder for insurers to dispute what happened.

Write Down Details

Make a note of everything that happened while the details are still fresh in your mind. You should, at the very least, write down the time of the incident, who was involved, and what occurred in the immediate aftermath.

Don’t Say Too Much to Insurers

The less you say to insurance companies, the better. They can twist your words and even blame you for your injuries. Instead, get legal advice from a personal injury attorney who has experience with insurer negotiations, can present your evidence persuasively, and knows what increases pain and suffering damages.

How Kanner & Pintaluga Can Help

Our personal injury team knows exactly how to prove pain and suffering so you can focus on healing. Since 2003, we’ve represented hundreds of thousands of injury victims and helped them pursue maximum recovery under the law.

Get a free case evaluation. We can estimate the value of your claim and guide you on the next steps. Call (800) 586-5555, or fill out the form on this page.