While you are filing for a personal injury case, if you can prove the injuries sustained in the accident can have long-lasting or permanent impacts on your life, your compensatory damages can become much higher.
To prove residual or permanent injuries, you must first know well about them as the insurance companies will ask you many questions about your injuries. This is done to find loopholes within your statement so they can reduce your compensation as much as possible.
If you ever get involved in a personal injury case, contact a Seattle personal injury attorney to deal with the insurance company and back you on how you can get the maximum coverage for the injuries sustained in the accident.
However, to know the impact of a residual injury on your personal injury claim, read the below information carefully.
Types of residual injuries
- Scars or deformity
The most common residual injuries in personal injury claims are scars or deformities from your existing or past injuries that won’t go away quickly. In cases where the deformation leads to severe changes like disfiguration of the face, or some other body, you can demand a high compensation from the insurance company.
Scars that cause discoloration or abnormality in your appearance are also eligible for residual injuries. These injuries can result from either the injuries sustained in the accident or medical treatments like post-surgery.
While treating these injuries is a good reason for increasing your compensatory losses, the other reason is that scars can make the affected area soft and prone to damage. Cases with severe injuries can even cause permanent tissue damage resulting in immobility.
Medical scars can result from stitches or sutures to heal a particular injury.
However, a scar or deformity must easily be visible on your skin. Scars covered under clothes or not interfering with your appearance do not stand any chance of increasing your compensation.
Moreover, you can also demand compensation for treating such scars and deformities through cosmetic surgery. As your current doctor, you simply give the insurance company a letter that will act as evidence for your treatment. Or else you can ask your doctor to suggest a cosmetic surgeon in their contact.
- Back injuries
Although a significant part of your back injury heals when it undergoes treatment, there can be some hints of it remaining in the form of pain or restricted movement after the accident. For example,
- A disk injury
- Deformation of the vertebral column
- Dislocated joint
