Suffering is the pain, hurt, inconvenience, embarrassment, and inability to perform normal activities because of injury, for which a person injured by another person’s negligence or wrongdoing may recover general damages. It is usually in the combination of pain and suffering.
- Cases such as this case from Missouri, explain that “pain and suffering, both physical and mental, that warrant an award of general damages, refers to the pain, discomfort, inconvenience, anguish, and emotional trauma that accompanies an injury.”
- Similarly, this case from California, explains that “pain and suffering is a unitary concept that encompasses physical pain and various forms of mental anguish and emotional distress.”
- In the context of mental health, this case from Illinois, explains that to prove a person is ‘suffering,’ as would support an order for involuntary administration of psychotropic medication, the State must show that they are experiencing physical pain or emotional distress.
[Last updated in October of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]