How Well Do You Handle Suffering?

The title was the punch line to a cartoon in the Wall Street Journal. The cartoon showed the man sitting before a man in personnel who was asking them that question. The clear “joke” was that they were about to suffer a great deal. In a accident injury case, a jury and the defense lawyer will both be asking themselves that question about you. How well do you handle suffering?

Pain is a fairly abstract idea, until you have it, can’t get rid of it, and it has dramatically changed how you are doing. There is a big difference in your understanding about being in so much pain that you could not sleep at night or only for short periods of time. You can immediately tell who has had back pain before when pain is being discussed. As the saying goes, “It all depends on whose ox is being gored.” If you have experienced severe pain yourself, you identify with someone who says they now have a lot of pain in their back or anywhere else.

Different people have different thresholds for pain. Some can function with an amount of pain that would completely stop someone else from functioning. There are also different feelings caused by pain: Sharp pain running down your leg; pain like an ice pick that someone stabbed you with in the back;  pain so bad, that one minute you were fine and the next minute all of the energy was zapped from you; and pain so bad that you would do anything to get relief from it (including serious surgery).   I could go on, but you get the idea.

Most people who have not experienced severe pain want something objective to tell them when they serve as a juror that the pain is real and that the person is not faking or exaggerating. People hate a whiner. They only want to pay people for their pain if they have handled their suffering well.   That means following the doctor’s recommendations and treatment.   I encourage clients who have pain issues to keep their doctor’s appointments and accurately report their pain.  Sometimes, a change in medication or treatment will make a big difference on your quality of life.   According to Science Daily, “About 10 percent of the United States population suffers from chronic pain, of which the majority is back pain.” Jurors also want to know that you’ve done everything that you could to relieve your pain. That means responsible use of any medication prescribed by your doctor. How well you handle suffering can make a difference in your case.

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“Seven Deadly Sins That Can Wreck Your Alabama Injury Claim” for more in depth information.

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