Personal Injury Terms and Definitions

General damages Better known as "pain and suffering" damages, which include the emotional trauma from physical injuries, pain, humiliation, etc. Compensatory damages Which measure actual dollar-value losses for such things as medical expenses, lost income, loss of future earning capacity, etc. Eggshell skull A hypothetical medical condition used to illustrate the idea that if you are at fault when you injure someone, you are responsible for all the consequences, whether you could have foreseen them or not. Mental Anguish Mental suffering. It is different from a physical injury, but may be considered in awarding damages. In some cases damages for mental anguish can be awarded even if no physical injury occured. Quadriplegia Complete paralysis of the body from the neck down, usually caused by damage to the spinal cord. Burden of proof A party's job of convincing the decisionmaker in a trial that the party's version of the facts is true. In a civil trial, it means that the plaintiff must convince the judge or jury "by a preponderance of the evidence" that the plaintiff's version is true -- that is, over 50% of the believable evidence is in the plaintiff's favor. Bodily Injury A cut, abrasion, bruise, burn, or disfigurement; physical pain, illness, impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty; or any other injury to the body, no matter how temporary. Managed care Any system that manages healthcare delivery with the aim of controlling costs. Managed care systems typically rely on a primary care physician who acts as a gatekeeper through whom the patient has to go to obtain other health services such as specialty medical care, surgery, or physical therapy. Liable Legally responsible. For example, a person may be liable for a debt, liable for an accident due to careless behavior, liable for failing do something required by a contract or liable for the commission of a crime. Cervical Pain Neck pain can come from disorders and diseases of any structure in the neck. There are seven vertebrae that are the bony building blocks of the spine in the neck (the cervical vertebrae) that surround the spinal cord and canal.

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	Did You Know?
	There are four general types of slip and fall accidents Trip-and-fall accidents, where there is a foreign object in the walking path. Stump-and-fall accidents, where there is an impediment in the walking surface. Step-and-fall accidents, where there is an unexpected failure or hole in the walking surface Slip-and-fall accidents, in which the interface of the shoe and the floor fails Both the property owner as well as the injured person can be held to varying degrees of responsibility for an injury.