Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) After an Accident: Legal Considerations in Florida

Personal injury accidents in Florida may entitle you to request financial compensation for losses that don’t traditionally generate physical bills. The state’s civil courts refer to these losses as non-economic losses. Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, can constitute a non-economic loss in particularly traumatic accidents.

If you want to integrate PTSD into your quest for post-accident support, you need to bring forward proof indicating that you’ve suffered from this condition as a result of someone else’s negligence-based accident. You can bring forward the evidence you need to meet Florida’s burden of proof by working with an experienced personal injury attorney to investigate your accident. Our board-certified team at Baker Legal Team can help you through every aspect of your personal injury claim.

Identifying What Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Is

PTSD is a mental health condition that impacts parties affected by life-changing and traumatic events. PTSD diagnoses used to generally only apply to parties impacted by military trauma, but the definition has since expanded. 

You may find yourself contending with PTSD or PTSD-like symptoms after all manner of traumatic accidents, including car crashes, truck wrecks, and medical malpractice. Some of the most common symptoms of PTSD can include:

• Intrusive thoughts or memories
• Mood changes
• Difficulty sleeping
• Altered emotional reactions

While these symptoms may decrease in severity over time, they can still have a noted impact on your overall health and quality of life. You have the right to include that reduced quality of life in your request for financial support should you choose to take legal action against the party responsible for a recent traumatic accident.

Medical Professionals Can Help Integrate PTSD Into Your Request for Civil Damages

Before you can request damages for PTSD, you need to verify that you are displaying symptoms of the condition as a result of your accident. This is easiest to do when you have paperwork from a medical professional that shows you have PTSD. That professional may later be able to testify in court that you display symptoms of PTSD that stem from your recent traumatic accident.

Expert witness testimony tends to lend to the credibility of your fight for damages, thereby streamlining the process through which you can receive loss-based damages. If you don’t have expert connections to call on, an experienced personal injury attorney can connect you with their professional network.

How to Value PTSD in a Personal Injury Claim

As a non-economic loss, PTSD doesn’t generate a dollar value in the same way that economic losses, like property damage, might. That isn’t to say that PTSD doesn’t have value when integrated into a personal injury claim, however. A personal injury attorney in Florida can look to case precedent to determine what dollar amount you might be able to receive for PTSD.

The compensation you receive for PTSD-related losses can cover the cost of therapy as well as compensation for your reduced quality of life.

Experienced Personal Injury Lawyers at Baker Legal Team Can Integrate PTSD Into Your Fight For Support

Any amount of accidents may result in PTSD symptoms in survivors, and this condition can drastically affect your life for years to come. You deserve the right to integrate PTSD into a request for accident damages after a traumatic personal injury accident.

The good news is that Baker Legal Team’s personal injury attorneys can help you not only prove your right to PTSD damages but also establish the value of those damages. You can call our team today at (561) 320-0000 or contact us online to learn more about how we can make your fight for accident compensation simpler.