Chronic Pain Lawyers: Toronto

Obtaining compensation for chronic pain can be exhausting and frustrating. Because everyone reacts differently to an injury or illness, what causes discomfort in one patient may cause excruciating pain in another -- and there are few measurable signs. While a medical professional can obtain scans and x-rays of the body’s physical structures and can assess a patient’s reflexes, and nerve conduction, there is no definitive test for pain. Insurance companies are wary of chronic pain claims, because con artists often try to scam insurers by pretending to have chronic pain. On the other hand, insurance companies can use the fact that chronic pain can’t be proven, as a basis to deny claims. If you are suffering from chronic pain, you may have a difficult time getting the compensation you deserve. That’s why you should consult with a personal injury law firm with chronic pain lawyers in Toronto.

Chronic Pain and Disability Claims

Chronic pain is associated with other problems, such as depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Someone with chronic pain may find it impossible to pay attention to detail, or to deal with social situations. This can make employment problematic, and cause harm to relationships. It can, in fact, inhibit every area of the patient’s life. All of these stresses can, in turn, make the pain worse. Even among physicians, chronic pain is poorly understood. If you are unable to work due to chronic pain, you may find that your insurance company is reluctant to greenlight your disability claim unless it is linked directly to an identifiable injury or illness.

The most straightforward disability claims involve pain after a motor vehicle accident (MVA). A 2016 US studyfound that one in five patients who didn’t require hospitalization developed chronic widespread pain (CWP) fairly soon after the accident, and even after a year passed, the incidence of CWP remained the same. This means that approximately 25% of motor vehicle accident patients with minor injuries developed chronic pain that lasted at least one year! It stands to reason that the percentage of patients with serious injuries due to MVAs who develop chronic pain is at least that high, or higher. Chronic pain claims due to conditions such as fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis are harder to prove.

Chronic Pain Claims Denied

Because proving disability due to chronic pain is so difficult, there are a number of things to remember:

• Be scrupulously honest. Because your word is the main evidence of chronic pain, if you are found to be lying about anything, it may be assumed that you are also lying about the pain.
• Make sure that you get timely and adequate medical care. Go to the doctor at the onset of pain, and ask to be referred to specialists. Get tests to ascertain the cause of the problem.
• Do everything possible to try to treat the pain effectively. This could include taking prescribed or recommended medications, undergoing physiotherapy, getting injections of steroids, and/or visiting a pain clinic.

And finally, of course, work with an experienced lawyer who is familiar with chronic pain and long-term disability claims. Some of the most experienced personal injury law firms serve Toronto and area. Good legal advice can make help to make your claim successful!