Assessing Personal Injuries

Overview

The area of Personal Injury assessment pertains to cases where clients have sustained a non-catastrophic injury such as from a car accident, however, the extent of their injuries is severe enough that it precludes them from performing past work or impacts them temporarily. Examples of such injuries might include whiplash where the cervical neck nerve roots are damaged, herniated lower back discs most commonly L4-5, or fractured limbs from impact. When clients are unable to return to their former job, they must be vocationally assessed for remaining skills/abilities to perform work in the economy. A Transferable Skills Analysis (TSA) is also conducted to see what types of jobs an individual may be able to perform considering his/her age, education, medical limitations, past work experience and aptitude potential.

Standard Procedure in Assessing Personal Injury Damages

Following the same methodological procedures for life care plans, we first discuss with the retaining attorney issues related to the case such as client age, education, most recent work experience and wages, and medical prognosis. If it appears we can assist in the case, we request all available medical records, tax returns or W-2s for the last three years worked, and all depositions be forwarded to one of our offices. From this point, we arrange to interview the client and depending on client demographics such as age and work experience, we may vocationally evaluate the client in the areas of scholastic aptitudes, achievement, manual and fine dexterity, and career interests. Following the interview, research is conducted considering national and regional jobs, mean and median national and local wages, labor market analysis and transferable skills analysis. The summation is all incorporated into the client's report, specific details of which are reported below.

Report Composition

The final report contains basic demographic information about client’s personal and family history, work history, educational history, medical history, current medical and living conditions, testing results (if relevant), and the vocational assessment. The report contains two major elements generally reported by vocational experts; any loss of opportunity or labor market access loss and any potential loss of earning capacity or wage loss. Wage loss versus earning capacity loss are two distinctly different terms that are calculated depending on the clients past work history. (View a sample Vocational Assessment Report)