Pain and Suffering

'Pain and suffering' is an umbrella term for the non-economic harm from an injury. It typically includes:

• Physical pain — during the injury, during treatment, and lingering
• Emotional distress — anxiety, depression, PTSD, fear of driving or of similar situations
• Loss of enjoyment of life — inability to do things you used to do
• Inconvenience and disruption during recovery
• Disfigurement and scarring
• Loss of consortium, in some states — the effect on close family relationships

There's no formula that courts or insurers must use. Two informal approaches come up often:

• The multiplier method — total economic damages are multiplied by a number (often between 1.5 and 5) based on severity
• The per-diem method — a daily amount is assigned and multiplied by the number of days of impact

The same injury can settle at very different values in different hands. Factors that move the number include: the severity and permanence of the injury; whether medical imaging or objective findings support the reported pain; the claimant's credibility and how consistently they've reported symptoms; the jurisdiction's historical verdicts; any state cap on non-economic damages; and whether the case is in negotiation or in front of a jury.

A significant number of states have statutory caps on non-economic damages — often just in medical malpractice, but in some states more broadly. These caps can dramatically affect what's realistically recoverable in large cases. The cap in a given state applies regardless of what a jury might otherwise have awarded.

A few misconceptions come up repeatedly. It's not a fixed multiple of medical bills, even though the multiplier method is sometimes explained that way. It's not the same thing in every state. It's usually not taxable at the federal level when tied to a physical injury. And it usually isn't available in a workers' comp claim against an employer.