Imagine a situation where you suddenly lose the ability to take care of yourself and have to depend on your family or friends for everything. How easily can you accept that you can no longer walk and enjoy your living space and have to rely on assistive devices?
No amount of insurance compensation can correct these situations. In reality, personal injury claims focus on compensation for medical expenses and lost income, among other recoverable damages, leaving out home readjustment. Financial constraints and psychological challenges associated with returning to one’s condition before injury are often overwhelming yet overlooked. To mitigate the impact of these financial strains, personal injury law firms such as Fields Injury Law consider lifelong care expenses and home adjustment expenses as part of the compensation.
What does Home Readjustment Entail?
Although overlooked, home readjustment is something that is associated with personal injury. Here are some of the aspects that make home readjustment one of the damages that shouldn’t go unnoticed.
- Home Readjustment Entails Living Space Modifications
New structures, such as wheelchair ramps, may be necessary to facilitate the mobility of victims of accidents, depending on the nature of their injuries. Additionally, bathrooms and kitchens may need to be adjusted to enhance accessibility. These modifications enable the victims to carry out their day-to-day activities and enhance their psychological stability during the recovery process. Without these modifications, victims end up struggling to adopt a new way of living.
- Financial Strains Associated with Home Readjustment
The cost of modifying the living space, acquiring assistive devices, and supporting ongoing care can be immense, depending on the severity of the injuries. Wheelchairs and specialized kitchen utensils are some assistive tools that victims of accidents have to acquire to help them feel a sense of normalcy in their activities.
- New Roles for the Family
Depending on the extent of the injury sustained, many of the victims of accidents tend to depend on their families as caregivers. This often has the impact of new expectations and the challenges of strained relationships among family members. When the new role of caregiving comes in, pressure tends to pile up in families, and breakups can occur. The pressure resulting from the new role of caregiving is due to:
- Additional duties and expectations: In addition to the normal duties, one or more family members must support the victim(s) in their day-to-day activities.
- Broken Communication: Changes in emotions and expectations of family members often compromise effective communication within the family.
Broken families are a huge damage, which may be hard to quantify for purposes of insurance compensation claims.
- Home Readjustment is Psychologically Challenging
As one strives to return to their pre-injury conditions, feelings of isolation and frustration are common barriers along the journey. It is frustrating to accept that one can no longer carry out their day-to-day activities and has to depend on others. Additionally, when a person cannot walk and engage in social activities with others, a feeling of isolation sets in. These two are often recipes for anxiety and depression, which normally have a devasting impact.
Conclusion
Although injury claims significantly address recoverable damages, including medical expenses, lost quality of life, and lost income, home readjustment often goes unnoticed. It is not as if home readjustment is not significant damage.
The financial strains and psychological challenges for the victims and their families are immense. Home readjustment comes with the notable costs of carrying physical modifications and acquiring assistive devices such as wheelchairs.
Victims of accidents often experience feelings of isolation and frustration as they go through the process of home readjustment. Their families must cope with new caregiving roles, expectations, and increased pressure.
