QuestionI am a 62 year old woman. After my car, at 45 mph, T-boned another car (his fault), I had no major problems but my medical bills, due to testing, therapy,etc., rose to $22,000. I was finally diagnosed with myofascial pain in my legs and arms and am beginning trigger point injections. It appears that this pain may go on for some time. I am in a more weakened state than I was before the accident. What kind of settlement would be reasonable for me to expect?
AnswerDear Linda,
Your claim is potentially very serious, and it is NOT READY TO BE SETTLED. DO NOT EVEN LET AN ADJUSTER TALK TO YOU AT THIS TIME.
No one would ever venture to make even a ballpark guess as to value based upon such little information. There are way too many issues not addressed. Not the least of which seems to be that your doctors do not yet have a fully developed diagnosis and prognosis. Plus we may be dealing with a very serious injury in terms of how long you may have to deal with it. We just do not know at this point.
You state that they "finally" got a clue as to what it is. And that they "appears" the pain can go on for some time. Thus, my point is made: in addition, it would appear that this case is not ready for settlement at this time.
Why? It sounds like you are having referred pain still, and thus you are WAY TOO EARLY TO CONSIDER SETTLEMENT. Where they inject you, is the trigger point active (hurts), or latent (quiet)? It would be better to have no referred pain, so an active trigger point might signal a shorter duration of having to deal with this.
The other point being that such chronic pain can signal a long term bout with a syndrome that can be similar to fibromyalgia. That can cut both ways when it comes to valuing a personal injury.
On the one hand, it is often difficult to attribute fibromyalgia to trauma, and since it was a popular insurance claim topic about eight years ago, the insurance industry has done a good job in defending such claims.
BUT, the other side of the sword is that if the proof is made medically, then such claims are a home run for valuation, often going well into six figures.
There is no way of knowing unless your doctors do solid work and their records are reviewed by an attorney who has handled a fibromyalgia case.
My suggestion here is to get an attorney to take a look at your claim. You do not have to hire her. But you might be flying in the dark and sitting on a claim with substantial value.
As you can see from my website below, we teach injured people to settle their own insurance claims. But in your case, we would NOT recommend you go forward on your own because of the complexity of these kinds of clams, and because there may be a lot at stake here.
You cannot just pick any attorney from the phone book. Look to see if anyone offers experience in myofascial or fibromyalgia claims. And be DARN SURE THAT THEY HAVE THE ACTUAL EXPERIENCE that they mention.
Another way is to select only from a group of attorneys who are members of the American Trial Lawyers Association (now American Justice Association). That way, you know they are serious about personal injury work because they keep up on the latest through such memberships.
If you cannot find out who is a member, shoot me an e-mail and I will let you know. Give me your city, county of courthouse and county where the accident occurred. How you do it is to go to my website and use "contact us". Be sure to mention www.allexperts.com so I will know where we met since we do not offer this to anyone off the internet. There is no charge to you or the attorney--I will not even know who you pick.
Best wishes on complete healing for you, Linda,
Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
www.SettlementCentral.Com
