If Your Child Is Traumatized You Can Fight Back
Brian O Sutter
Personal Injury
Most of the time when we talk about court cases and getting compensation, we’re referring to injuries. In many ways, an injury is a much more simple and straightforward situation for a court to resolve. Injuries—at least at the time—are visible. They can be documented with photos, medical records, and testimony from doctors. In most cases, if an injury is life-long, permanent and crippling, such as the loss of a limb, an experienced personal injury lawyer can make a case for proper financial compensation if someone else’s carelessness is responsible.But not everything that debilitates a person is a visible, physical injury. In criminal acts, it’s often understood that the ramifications of a rape case, for example, can go far beyond just any physical damage. Emotional damage can potentially be life-long and just as crippling—if not more so—than a physical injury. The same is especially true when it comes to the delicate emotional condition of children.
Children are only just learning about the world around them. That means that any new experience can be a formative one, that will have a lifelong influence on how they choose to act in life. Some experiences, especially negative ones, can be so intense that they create phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other traumas that may take an otherwise ordinary children and give them issues they will wrestle with for the rest of their lives.
And when that happens, you can, and should, so something about it.
Emotional Distress Is Real
While it may be more difficult to document in a court situation, emotional distress is a factor that can often play into a personal injury case. Although the phrase “emotional distress” might not seem very serious, the actual legal interpretation of those words is another matter entirely.
Emotional distress is when the court considers a trauma to be so severe that it impacts the ability of that person to live a normal life. In the most extreme situations, such as a rape case, a woman that is traumatized by these events may be so afflicted with anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder that she may not even be able to leave her home to work or even shop for groceries because her fear of assault is now so great.
In the same way, a child getting bitten by a dog, nearly drowning in a swimming pool, or even being forced to watch a horror film, begging for it to stop while a person nearby laughs at their fear and forces them to continue watching can all have a permanent, lasting impact. And that impact can negatively impact their ability to live normally. Not being able to enter a swimming pool, having a phobia of dogs, or even being frightened of the dark where no phobia previously existed is a sign that things have gone too far.
The important thing to remember is that every case is unique, and it must be proven to satisfaction in court. All Injuries Law Firm deals with all aspects of injury, from the physical to the psychological. If you or your family have suffered from something that will negatively affect your lives, and someone else is responsible, we want to help you.