On a trial lawyers' list serve, an attorney asked a question about a case. It involved emotional distress after a fractured rib.

Another attorney was quick to comment that he had fractured 12 ribs and didn't have any emotional distress associated with it. As a result, he thought the case didn't have any value.

Here's what I wrote in response:

I used to think like that, too.

I'd broken my foot, broken my hand, broken my wrist (twice), had ankle surgery, had an acetabular fracture, had an internal de-gloving injury, had my hip replaced, had open heart surgery to fix an aortic aneurysm, etc.

None of these things had a particularly big emotional impact on me.

But this past winter, I was treating for throat cancer. I was not feeling my best and didn't have a lot of reserves. A student nurse was trying to take some blood and put the needle in at about a 90° angle.

That event had a big impact on me, and it still affects how I feel about getting treatment.

I think it really matters where someone is in life, in terms of how they respond to a given trauma. If everything else is going well, it may be no big deal. If everything else is pretty challenging, it might have a big impact.

The big challenge in cases is helping the insurance adjuster, arbitrator, judge, or jurors be able to understand what a particular injury meant to the injured person, not what that injury would mean to them.