The study included 3047 patients ages 18-84. They all had experienced acute trauma from an accident. The researchers followed the people for over one year and discovered most of the pain was reported in the joints and extremities (44%), back (26%) head (11%) and neck (7%). Moreover, 59% of those patients with injury-related pain had three or more painful areas one year after injury.

Other findings worth noting in this March 2008 study were that pain levels at the 3 month marker were indicators on how long pain severity would continue. Basically, if you had severe pain after three months of a single trauma, most likely you would be experiencing at least moderate pain in one year’s time. The study findings encourage doctors to treat the pain as well as the injury. One important conclusion reached by the study is that “Earlier and more intensive interventions to treat pain in trauma patients in needed.”

Information for early pain management options should be available to patients so that they can choose the best treatment according to their injury and lifestyle. Where can a person go to get unbiased information? First, always keep a good line of communication open with your doctor and then start with the following resources:

A general overview of evaluating Health Information on the Internet can be found at, http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/evalhealthinfo.html.

A comprehensive non-profit organization called the American Pain Foundation has several resource guides for managing and understanding your pain. Here are a few helpful links:

Pain Resource Guide,

Discussion Guide for you and your doctor,

Pain Treatment Options,

Options for Managing pain,

Target Chronic Pain guide.

Pain can rob you of your family time, work productivity and quality of life. Pain is a major part of any injury claim. That’s why it is important to choose an experienced Washington Injury Accident Attorney if you have been in a car accident of other accident caused by the negligence of another person.

If you are the injured victim or family member that recovers money as the result of a personal injury lawsuit or claim – then the money received is not taxed. Under Federal Treasury Regulation § 104(a)(2) Gross Income (potentially taxable income) does not include money (unless punitive damages – which aren’t available under Washington laws) received as the result of personal injury lawsuit /claim settlement, judgment, or verdict.

If you settled your car accident or other Washington injury accident case in the last tax year you will not have to pay taxes on it. You will probably have to report that you received a personal injury settlement or verdict, but no taxes will be charged against it. So when your accountant or tax software asks you about the amount received don’t worry, you won’t pay more taxes by telling the IRS about your injury settlement/verdict money. 

The tax code section reads specifically: “Section 104(a)(2) excludes from gross income the amount of any damages received (whether by suit or agreement) on account of personal injuries or sickness. The term “damages received (whether by suit or agreement)” means an amount received (other than workmen’s compensation) through prosecution of a legal suit or action based upon tort or tort type rights, or through a settlement agreement entered into in lieu of such prosecution.”

Ben Sansone of the Missouri Injury Law Blog had recent post on the same subject. If you live in Missouri you should definitely check out his blog, it is excellent.

Q: I have been involved in a Seattle car accident and the medical bills are mounting. The insurance company for the driver who hit me says they will pay my medical bills and give me a “little something” for pain and suffering. They have asked me to sign a release. Should I take them up on their offer?

No, especially if you are still under the care of the physician. Once you settle with the insurance company, that will be the end of your claim, even if your injury gets worse. Your medical bills will not be paid by the driver of the car that hit you as they are incurred. The other driver’s insurance company will only agree to pay your medical bills in exchange for a release of all claims, which ends any further payments of your medical bills or otherwise.

There may be other sources available to pay your medical bills while your claim is pending. You may have Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance on your own car insurance, which is specifically designed for paying your medical bills in a car accident regardless of whose fault the accident was. My previous post on PIP insurance (click here) explains this insurance more fully. Another source is your health insurance. Your health insurance will pay for your medical bills from your car accident. If you have either PIP or Health insurance these are the people you need to contact to get your medical bills paid while your actively treating your car accident injuries.

I often hear people say “Why should my insurance pay when the accident was the other guy’s fault? I don’t want my rates to go up.” Don’t fall into this trap. You purchased PIP and health insurance for the very purpose you are now facing after suffering injuries in a car accident. I can’t say for absolute sure, but in my experience I have not seen any of my client’s car insurance rates increase for making a PIP claim. The reason being is they are entitled to be repaid down the road when you do settle your case.

Both PIP and health insurance companies have a repayment right called a “subrogation interest” against your accident claim. If you hire an injury attorney to handle your car accident case he will negotiate and handle this repayment for you. If you don’t have an attorney, the insurance companies generally talk to each other and work out repayment between themselves. All you generally need to do is give the PIP adjuster or health insurance person the name, address, and phone number of the at fault driver’s insurance adjuster. I know this can sound complicated, but you can handle it with some patience and asking a few questions, or you can hire an attorney to take care of these details for you. 

An experienced personal injury attorney will be able to help you understand your rights. My advice to you is that if an insurance adjuster calls you requesting you to sign anything, tell them to mail you the release and you’ll be happy to review it with your attorney.

Or better yet order my free book for Washington residents ”The Guide to Washington Injury Cases” by clicking here. The book will give you some good information about the whole Washington car accident injury claim process before you speak with that pushy insurance adjuster.

This post continues my series with answers to frequently asked questions about Washington car accident claims.

Q: A friend was in a car accident and broke his leg. He got a lot of money. Will my case be worth as much as his?

Each Washington car accident case is different. Each injury affects a person differently. Even if you both broke the same bone, your pain tolerance might be different. You might need surgery to correct the problem, whereas your friend didn’t. Your friend might be a football player for the Seattle Seahawks, and as a professional athlete his broken bone means he lost months of work. Your situation is probably different.

It’s important to know how your injury has affected your daily life. Has it impaired your ability to do your daily tasks like tying your shoelaces, taking a shower, making breakfast, going to the bathroom, holding groceries and similar activities?

If you were to ask me when you should try to resolve your injury claim, like nearly every one of my clients asks when they hire me, my recommendation is that you shouldn’t begin the process of trying to resolve your injury claim with the insurance company until you have fully healed and recovered from all of your injuries, or your injuries have reach a point of maximum improvement and will not likely get any better in the future. Once you’ve reach this point, the value of your case is based upon all of your damages. So if your broken leg injury was so severe that you now will walk with a limp for the rest of your life, well that has more value than if your leg healed without any permanent limp. This is just one example of the kinds of factors that go into establishing a value of your Washington car accident injury case.

Since everyone is different, and injuries affect each person differently, the value for each case is different. I can tell is this, if the insurance company calls you right after the car accident and offers $500 to settle your broken leg injury claim, $500 is nowhere close to the true value of your case.

Anyone who suffers a serious injury in a car or other vehicle accident should get the advice of an experienced Washington injury attorney as soon as possible. Or better yet, order my free book for Washington residents “The Guide to Washington Injury Cases.” The book has good quality information for you to use before speaking with an insurance adjuster or meeting with an attorney for a “free consultation.”