Emotional distress is a psychological injury that one experiences after an accident, injury, or other trauma. It can include anxiety, depression, insomnia, night terrors, and the emergence of unreasonable fears. Emotional distress is the mental and emotional counterpart of physical injuries that many accident victims experience. In some cases, emotional distress is brought on by an accident, even when there is no physical injury to go along with it. Symptoms of emotional distress are not always easy to identify or physically evident, but that does not mean you are not suffering unduly due to them.
Negligent infliction of emotional distress (NIED) is a term for an action that, as a byproduct, caused severe emotional trauma. Examples of negligent infliction of emotional distress include a driver causing an accident that injured a victim, leading to their ongoing anxiety. Another example includes a doctor failing to see a cancerous tumor which then leads to the patient falling ill; the doctor has not done their duty as a medical professional and, due to their negligence, has caused both physical and emotional distress. Even witnesses or bystanders of accidents who are not physically harmed in a traumatic event or accident can sue the liable party for negligent infliction of emotional distress in some cases.
Participating in and witnessing traumatic events can trigger emotional distress. Accident victims who are physically and non-physically injured can experience an onset of emotional distress symptoms such as insomnia, heightened stress, anxiety, depression, and nervous attacks. Physical injuries as well as felt close encounters with death through accidents make their victims particularly susceptible to ongoing emotional distress following the trigger. Bystanders and participants of accidents who are not injured also face an onset of emotional distress through the traumatic trigger of witnessing another’s injury or brush with death, or feeling it themselves by proxy. A family member or friend who watches their loved one get severely injured or killed in an accident can experience emotional distress afterwards, regardless of the fact that they were not physically impacted.
A demand letter is a legal document that explains the plaintiff’s intent to sue for damages, including emotional distress and other pain and suffering, if the issue does not reach a settlement. In emotional distress cases, a demand letter is often necessary to encourage a defendant to settle where they otherwise might not, as litigation costs elevate a defendant’s expenses significantly, and the demand letter displays the plaintiff’s sense that full damages sought are deserved.
Our personal injury attorneys at Cohen & Riechelson are here to work on your behalf to gather necessary and abundant, diverse evidence to support your claim of pain and suffering caused by another’s negligence if you have been physically injured. Our background in personal injury negotiation and litigation paves the way for our deeper understanding of just what is at stake in your emotional distress claim, and we pride ourselves on successfully representing clients in Croydon, Fairless Hills, Buckingham, Doylestown, Langhorne, and throughout Pennsylvania every day, so they can move on with their life after a traumatic event. Contact us at (215) 337-4915 today to discuss filing a lawsuit against the party who caused your accident and resulting emotional distress as you get back on the way to well-being.
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