After you have suffered a personal injury, it is vital that you keep adequate records in order to demonstrate your financial and personal losses due to the injury. While many people understand that they must keep records of their medical bills, it is also important to keep accurate records for all of your other injury-related expenses in order to receive the largest monetary compensation possible for your losses.
Expenses Related to Your Medical Treatment
When undergoing medical treatment, you will face far more expenses than just those directly tied to your treatment. These are all expenses that you can obtain compensation for, so long as you have kept accurate records.
Among the most common non-medical expenses are the following:
● Travel costs associated with your medical treatment, such as fuel or vehicle rental expenses.
● Lost work on the part of any family members helping you obtain medical assistance.
● Non-medical bills such as hotel bills or eating expenses that may be required when you travel to a distant medical facility.
By keeping accurate records for all of these expenses you can assist your personal injury attorney in both showing the total price of your care, as well as further demonstrating the impact that your injury has had on you and your family alike.
Injury-Related Income Losses
In addition, a personal injury will often result in the loss of job-related income. Even a relatively minor injury can result in missing several days of work. In addition, you may find your ability to work at your former pace compromised by your injury even after you return to your job. By keeping accurate records, you can help ensure that you will obtain full and fair compensation for these losses.
If you have been rendered unable to work, the loss of income can be used to show the full extent of your financial losses. Even if you are capable of working after your injury, you may be able to demonstrate that you have had to spend extra money on measures designed to help you work with your injury. For example, a padded seat that you require due to back pain resulting from an auto collision, as long as it is properly documented, is a legitimate expense for which you can demand compensation from the party that caused your injury.
Emotional Distress
Finally, a personal injury case includes both physical and emotional injuries. Costs associated with depression, pain and suffering are all things that you can seek compensation for.
Emotional distress can often lead to the following types of losses:
● Lost employment due to depression or anxiety.
● A reduced ability to engage in social activity.
● The need to obtain professional help or prescription drugs in order to compensate for your emotional distress.
By keeping detailed records of these issues and any monetary expenses that are related to them, you will dramatically improve the ability of your lawyer to obtain compensation for the pain and suffering caused by your injury.
Keeping Accurate Records
When preparing your records, it is very important that they be accurate in every respect. In some cases, you may also use pictures or video records to demonstrate how these expenses are related to your injury. In addition to preserving all of your original receipts, you should also note how they relate to your injury. By doing so, you can establish a narrative that your attorney can effectively use when he or she is presenting your case to the court. Finally, you should ensure that you have copies of all of your records in order to prevent them from being lost due to an accident.
As you can see, it is important to keep records for all expenses that are related to your injury, not just your direct medical bills. By doing so, you can help your attorney show the full extent of your injury-related expenses to the court and get you the compensation you deserve.
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