We’re a part of the world where the values and business ethics have taken a strong hit, particularly because everybody around us is busy racing towards a bag full of cash. It is as immoral as it is illegal to wrong someone else and affect their physical mental or emotional well being in any form regardless of the intentions.
A strong personal injury lawsuit can be filed against a person or organization whose wrongdoings have made someone suffer without any fault of their own. If you have witnessed such things in the past or going through it right now, you must know what particularly is a personal injury lawsuit and how it can be filed.
But before you drag someone to the courtroom, you should be well aware of the injuries that actually qualify as a personal injury. Without further ado, let’s talk about some of the most common injuries which qualify as personal injuries:
1. Car Accidents:
Reckless driving claims many lives across the globe, especially in the developing nations. There is nothing worse than driving under the influence, which is often the main culprit of most of the accidents.
Unskilled drivers also account to a large chunk of the mishaps. The figures are alarming indeed, yet this remains the most common personal injury nowadays. Accidents often leave people paralyzed, or in severe cases, dead.
Amputation of a limb is often the last resort to save a life, which results in immobility and setbacks in the professional career. If the vehicle accident has been a result of reckless or irresponsible driving, you can file a lawsuit under the personal injury section.
2. Medical Malpractice:
Medical malpractice cases remain one of the most common yet sensitive instances of personal injury. A doctor often tries to cover up the mishap with technical terms trying to shield themselves from the mess which happened from their end. Sadly, this often works on people without medical background or the ones who are not much aware of their rights even today.
Medical injuries are as bad as accidents on the road, for they both can claim lives. Not only the doctor, but any medical professional involved in the treatment of a patient can be held responsible for a medical malpractice. It can be subdivided on the basis of the types of malpractices which the patients undergo:
- Misdiagnosis
- Negligence
- Fault in prescription or administration
- Surgical errors
Out of the above 4, negligence and misdiagnosis are the most frequently reported cases. Surgical errors have reduced over a period of time, as it involves higher stakes and risks. The doctors can’t afford a maligned image for themselves and let their career suffer a major setback.
There have been cases where the doctors have been falsely blamed for the patient’s inconvenience just for the sake of maligning the doctor’s image, which takes us to our next Category: Defamation.
3. Defamation:
‘None of us can buy goodwill: We must earn it’. Wait! What if this hard-earned goodwill is lost just because of someone’s jealousy? You can never be sure about who you may trust and who you may not.
These cases are tricky and often take long as it is hard to figure out the authenticity of the claims. If the case turns out to be legit, then there is justice for the plaintiff, but if the case turns out to be baseless, it is the accused who’s goodwill gets affected.
In that case, the accused can demand compensation for his maligned image in the form of monetary compensation. Well, the parameters for the conviction of defamatory cases differs according to societal positions.
For a common person, handling the case is all about proving that the false statement resulted in financial harm, whereas the influential personalities need to prove that the statement was directed for a wrong intention.
4. Dog Bites:
Yes, you can actually claim for the injury caused by the dog bite. Dog owners are held responsible for such negligence and cases can be filed against them.
The compensation would consist of the injections and treatments that the victim has to go through. Dog bites can prove to be life threatening and can result in some disastrous diseases.
If dog owners are found careless towards their dogs and leave them without a leash, the fierce breeds are bound to do some damage.This is one of the reasons many countries have restricted some breeds to be adopted as pets.
5. Slip and Fall Cases:
These cases are usually directed to the property owners the carelessness and negligence of whom affect the people residing or working on their property. You might have heard of cases where a worker harms their physical well being due to some mishap caused mainly by falling from a height or slipping.
This usually occurs when the property is not well-protected or well maintained. In this case, a strong case can be filed against the property owner for not following the required security measures.
6. Assault:
Probably the most common of all the cases listed above, assaults account of almost half the personal injury cases filed in the courts today. Since the assaults can never be unintentional unless, for self-defense, the charges usually result in bigger punishments than other personal injury cases. An assault case usually follows a criminal case as well, as the intention of assaulting someone is nothing else but a crime.
The charges for mental harassment are usually dealt with in civil courts, where the plaintiff needs to prove that the assault was intentionally done by the accused. The cases of assault are usually the sensitive ones, more so in the cases where women are the victim. Moreover, there is a strong chance of the victim being a forger trying to do it to outdo the accused.
Hope this article enlightened you on the various types of personal injuries and their consequences. So, now if you feel like being a victim in the future, don’t hesitate filing a personal injury case.
