suffering

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 reviewed in October of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team ]

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