If you’ve developed PTSD after a New York City car accident, you shouldn’t have to handle it on your own. A New York City car accident lawyer can help you sue a negligent driver for compensation so that you can access the physical and mental healthcare you need to aid in your recovery.
It may surprise you to learn that car accidents can cause post-traumatic stress disorder, commonly referred to as PTSD. In New York City, extremely damaging car accidents can cause victims to develop this disorder, which can be debilitating and expensive to treat. Some common symptoms include anxiety, fear, and depression. While victims can recover damages for PTSD in a lawsuit, it’s important to receive a diagnosis and hire a skilled attorney beforehand. That way, NYC car accident victims can get the compensation they deserve for PTSD after a collision.
The Carrion Law Firm is dedicated to supporting car accident victims who have developed PTSD in NYC. For a free case evaluation, call the Brooklyn car accident lawyers at The Carrion Law Firm today at (718) 841-0083.
Can You Sue for PTSD from an Injury in a Car Crash?
If you suffered an injury in a car accident, it may result in PTSD symptoms. These can be included in your car accident case in two ways.
Medical and Psychiatric Care
First, you may receive treatment for your PTSD, and you can include the cost of treating your PTSD in your damages. These would go with other reasonable medical expenses from the injury. For example, if you lost your leg in a crash and got medical care and psychiatric care, the psych bills are just as valid as the bills for physical health care.
Non-Economic Damages
Second, you can include pain and suffering damages for the PTSD. Along with mental anguish, emotional distress, and other intangible effects, the symptoms of PTSD can be part of your “non-economic” damages.
Can You Sue for PTSD By Itself?
When you are involved in an accident, any negative effects that cause you damages can be part of your claim. Think about a crash that involves property damage only, for example. You can recover for the damage to your vehicle and other expenses it caused you. When there is injury, you can sue for the effects of the injury, too, including medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
If you have PTSD but no other physical effects, you can still sue for that effect, but there are two potential complications:
Proving the PTSD
A psych evaluation will likely be needed to prove you have PTSD with no injury symptoms. This can certainly happen, but it is rare, and so you need more evidence to prove you really have PTSD without injuries.
Additionally, PTSD can cause physical symptoms itself. Sweating, high blood pressure, and other effects of stress and fear can take a toll on your body, providing additional proof of your condition.
Proving Accident Caused PTSD
Your PTSD needs to be linked to your accident itself. If you cannot show that your PTSD symptoms were caused by the accident, then they cannot be part of the damages.
Medical and psychological records from before and after the accident can help pinpoint the accident as the cause. Your testimony and testimony from loved ones can also show the changes you underwent when the PTSD started and prove those match with the timing of the crash.
If you were involved in a “near miss” crash, it may be hard to link PTSD to that situation without a physical car crash to act as the cause.
Can You Get PTSD Damages for Injury to Another Person?
Watching your loved one be killed or seriously injured in a crash might result in PTSD for you, even if you were not badly hurt in the crash. Damages are sometimes claimed in a “negligent infliction of emotional distress” claim.
Often, you need to actually witness a loved one die or be seriously injured, and they need to be a close relative, like a child or spouse. You also typically need to be in the car or right outside it rather than simply hearing about the crash later.
When Are PTSD Lawsuits Allowed for Car Crashes?
Car accident lawsuits are restricted in some cases. Unless you have “serious injuries,” you may need to file a claim with your insurance instead of filing a lawsuit. Depending on the severity of your PTSD condition and how much it affects your life, it may or may not qualify.
If the harm is serious enough to cause you to miss out on daily activities for 90 of the following 180 days, it should qualify as a “serious injury” and allow a lawsuit. Talk to a New York City car accident lawyer about what will and will not qualify for a lawsuit.
Can You Sue for PTSD In Other Accidents?
Car accidents are not the only accidents that can cause PTSD. Something like a slip and fall, a structural collapse in a building, or serious injuries from a defective product can also cause PTSD or PTSD-like symptoms. You can sue for these injuries and damages as well.
PTSD from Car Accidents
Car accidents can be extremely traumatic, especially if they result in debilitating injuries. Because of that, victims in New York City can develop PTSD in the aftermath of a serious collision.
In the United States, car accidents are one of the leading causes of PTSD among civilians. Such intense collisions can be extremely stressful, frightening, and damaging to victims in New York City. Generally, when victims experience a particularly distressing event, like a car accident, they can develop PTSD. This disorder is not reserved for any particular experience, meaning car accident victims are completely valid in noticing signs of PTSD after a collision in New York City.
While incredibly damaging car accidents can result in PTSD, less severe ones can also have a similar effect on New York City victims. Developing PTSD or PTSD-like symptoms has to do with your experience and feelings during and following an accident
While you may not believe you can develop PTSD because you don’t think your car accident was severe enough, that’s not necessarily the case. That being said, PTSD often arises in New York City car accident victims who have sustained severe injuries or witnessed a fatality during the accident. A history of traumatic experiences, and the length of time it takes to recover, can also contribute to victims developing PTSD
Prioritize your mental and physical health by getting an assessment from a doctor and mental health professional if you believe you’re experiencing PTSD after a car accident in New York City.
What Are the Symptoms of PTSD?
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental disorder commonly referenced in the media. You might have heard about it on television shows, read about it in books, but still not quite know what it entails. PTSD can seem elusive, but it has a relatively strict definition. Learning the symptoms of PTSD can help you get the care you need after a damaging car accident in New York City.
Post-traumatic stress disorder and similar symptoms can affect your life in many ways. After a serious car accident, you may find yourself constantly anxious or frightened. Panic attacks may occur following a trigger, which is an event that reminds you of the trauma related to a car accident. Queen’s car accident victims with PTSD may experience nightmares and depression and have extreme difficulty operating a vehicle or being around cars.
If you’ve been experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, visit a mental healthcare professional and a New York City car accident lawyer. While a psychiatrist can work on getting you the care you need, an attorney can begin building a case against a negligent driver whose actions caused you to develop PTSD.
How Do They Calculate Damages for PTSD After an NYC Car Accident?
It can be difficult to place a dollar amount on the impact PTSD has had on a car accident victim’s life. While PTSD may seem separate from the financial impact of a car accident, that’s not necessarily the case. Generally, diagnosis and prognosis will be taken into account when calculating compensation for PTSD after an NYC car accident.
Factors to Account For
To receive compensation for PTSD after a car accident, you will need to have a diagnosis from a doctor or mental health professional. Their assessment of your condition, and prognosis, will also impact the compensation amount you may receive. That being said, it can be hard to quantify the impact PTSD has had on an NYC car accident victim’s life.
Apart from the pain and suffering you may endure from PTSD after a car accident, this disorder can have a direct impact on your finances. While you may physically recover more quickly depending on your injuries, recovering mentally can take more time.
PTSD can impact a victim’s ability to work, making it more difficult to pay for medical expenses related to their physical injuries. This should be taken into account when calculating compensation for PTSD after an NYC car accident.
Calculating Economic Damages
The medical and psychiatric care costs, along with lost work from PTSD, can all be calculated by adding up the total bills and lost earnings. We can also look at future costs and impacts, such as how much more work you will miss because of your condition.
Calculating Non-Economic Damages
Pain and suffering and other intangible effects can be awarded monetary damages, but we usually use special calculation methods to determine these damages.
One method chooses a per-day value for your pain and suffering based on your daily income amount, then multiplies that by the number of days you face PTSD symptoms. This can be hard to use when your PTSD is ongoing or when it is hard to predict or track how many days in a week you will face PTSD episodes, especially as the effects might reduce over time.
Alternatively, we might use the “multiplier method” instead. This chooses a number for the severity of your injury, typically from 1.5 to 5. We multiply your other economic damages by this to calculate total damages.
Do I Need to See a Doctor for PTSD After an NYC Car Accident?
After a car accident in NYC, it’s crucial to see a doctor. A medical professional can assess your physical injuries and help you get the physical healthcare you need to recover.
Similarly, getting the mental healthcare you need is just as important. A psychiatrist can help get you the specific treatment you need to deal with your PTSD effects as well. Psychiatrists are medical doctors, and their testimony about your condition and status is often quite reliable evidence in court.
Having a diagnosis from a psychiatrist – or at least a record of PTSD-like symptoms – can be important in proving your condition and getting compensation for it.
When Should I Contact a New York City Car Accident Lawyer for PTSD?
Car accident victims who have developed PTSD from the trauma associated with a severe collision should reach out to a lawyer right away. Treating PTSD alongside physical injuries can be extremely expensive, and a New York City car accident lawyer can help you get the damages you deserve to cover the cost.
Victims who have sustained physical and mental damages, including PTSD, from a car accident should contact a New York City car accident lawyer immediately after a collision. An attorney can help you file a lawsuit against a negligent party so that you can focus on getting the care you need.
Your Bronx car accident lawyer should fight for your interests in a lawsuit against a responsible party. Our goal is to get you the compensatory damages you need to aid in your recovery from PTSD and any physical injuries after a car accident in NYC.
Speak with Our New York City PTSD Lawyers Today
If you’ve developed PTSD after a car accident in NYC, our Flatbush car accident lawyers are here to help. For a free case evaluation, call the NYC personal injury lawyers at The Carrion Law Firm today at (718) 841-0083.