Personal Injury cases are mainly due to negligence on the responsible party. You deserve to be taken care of whether you were in a car wreck, truck accident, workplace accident, or were the victim of medical malpractice or wrongful death. It's important to be aware of the different classifications of injuries so you know what to expect when proceeding with your case.

HOW TO CLASSIFY AN INJURY

There are two classifications of injuries, physical and emotional. Within those classifications, there are three types of injury: major trauma, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Read about all three types below.

Major Trauma

Major trauma is a physical injury that has the potential for prolonged bodily injury or even death. If your injury, or your loved one's injury, results in continuous therapy, treatments or wrongful death, this classifies as Major Trauma. Many personal injuries fall into this category as physical accidents are common. Remember, just because something is an accident does not mean you are at fault.

Major Trauma includes intentional and unintentional injuries.

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

For an injury to be classified as Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED), four requirements must be met:

  • The defendant must have acted intentionally or recklessly.
  • The defendant's actions must be extreme and outrageous.
  • Those actions must be the cause of the distress.
  • The effect of the actions must be severe emotional distress.
For emotional distress to be classified as "severe," it must be quantified by the intensity, duration and any physical manifestations of the distress. Typically, this requires documentation by a mental health professional.

Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress

Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress (NIED) is similar to IIED, but in the case of NIED, there is no need to prove that the defendant was intentionally inflicting emotional distress. The requirements for NIED are below:

  • The defendant must have acted carelessly.
  • The defendant's actions must be the cause of distress.
  • The effect of the actions must be severe emotional distress.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU'VE BEEN INJURED

Contact an attorney as soon as possible as the statute of limitations varies based on the type of case and state. There are a lot of costs involved with injuries; ambulance fees, hospital costs, prescriptions and therapy. Make sure you get what you deserve.

Call Eason Law at 314.932.1066 or fill out our contact form to schedule your FREE consultation today.