Amputation Demand Letter
2. Mental Anguish
From a legal damage viewpoint, Lindsey’s most severe injury is the constant mental anguish which plagues her every waking moment of her life and even intrudes upon her sleep in the form of nightmares. The numerous forms of mental anguish which we will prove to a jury include the obvious mental anguish accompanying the extreme physical pain which she suffered and continues to suffer, fear in multiple forms, frustration, humiliation, embarrassment, loneliness, feelings of inadequacy, feelings of vulnerability, and flashbacks.
Dr. Judith Jenson will describe the frustrating emotional roller coaster which Lindsey endured as the medical team made valiant efforts to save her life. She will offer emotional testimony as to the extreme anguish which Lindsey experienced when Dr. Jenson finally had to tell her that there was no chance to save her leg.
One of the most poignant pieces of evidence will be Dr. Jenson's testimony that Lindsey’s response to the horrible news that her leg had to be amputated was: "if you take my leg -- take my life. I don't want to live as a cripple." A jury will be very impressed, as Dr. Jenson is, with Lindsey’s courageous fight to overcome this initial attitude and to do the best she can with the life that Jane Gingerstein left her.
a. Mental Anguish Accompanying Physical Pain
We will present numerous witnesses who will testify as to the extreme mental anguish which Lindsey endured while she was hospitalized. The paramedics were unable to give her any type of medication to ease her pain because they were worried about loss of consciousness. A simple review of each of the injuries which she suffered will provide the jury with a very graphic clinical picture of the mental anguish of an almost incalculable amount which Lindsey survived during the most horrible experiences of her life.
We will then paint a very clear picture of each and every element of physical pain which Lindsey has endured and continues to endure and will endure for the rest of her life in order to substantiate the claim for mental anguish accompanying the physical pain.
b. Fear
Testimony will be abundant as to the numerous types of fear that Lindsey has experienced and continues to experience as a result of Jane Gingerstein's negligence. These include fear of dying which will be supported by numerous witnesses; early fears of losing her leg; her constant fears of falling as she hops on one leg or walks on crutches; her fear of re-injury; her fear of entrapment; her fear of driving; her fear of riding as a passenger in traffic; and a newborn vulnerability, the fear that another tragedy of similar proportions may befall her at any moment.
c. Humiliation and Embarrassment
Lindsey will testify as to the humiliation which she experiences as a result of being required to hop on one leg or crawl on the floor in her home in front of her friends. Additionally, Lindsey never experiences a full night's rest and has to get up during the night to go to the bathroom. On such occasions, she does not take the time to put on her prosthesis and is often afraid of walking on crutches when she is sleepy. She also does not want to hop on one leg in the dark and is relegated to crawling on the floor to the bathroom.
She also experiences humiliation and embarrassment in public or a meeting with friends because of the manner in which even the best intentioned people with whom she comes in contact look at her with pity. She is also humiliated by the financial problems which she has incurred as a result of the increased bills arising out of her injury and is embarrassed by her inability to pay her living expenses and the constant need to beg her family and friends for additional money on which to survive.
d. Frustration
Lindsey experiences frustration as a result of her inability to perform even the most menial tasks which were a part of her daily life prior to the injury. She also is frustrated as a result of the inability to maneuver in her home. She cannot use her prosthesis for long periods of time due to the severe irritation to her stump which is not yet acclimated to the prosthesis. Therefore, she is left to hop around the apartment on one leg or crawl. She feels extreme frustration from this inability to maneuver.
e. Vulnerability
Lindsey feels a very strong sense of vulnerability due to her physical incapacities. She feels very vulnerable to being attacked by a criminal due to her inability to defend herself. She also feels vulnerable to re-injury and worries about how she would escape in the event her apartment or a building where she was located caught on fire.
f. Anxiety Attacks
Lindsey experiences frequent anxiety attacks. The most frequent source is when she is riding in traffic. She has become a chronic back-seat driver worrying about every intersection and every other moving vehicle as a threat to her. Additionally, she experiences anxiety attacks when she is watching television and sees an event that triggers the accident in her mind and causes her to hyperventilate and become extremely anxious. Each time Lindsey relives the event, which occurs frequently, it takes her a very long period of time to recover to a normal level and overcome the anxiety. This frequently occurs since she goes through the McCormick-Danville intersection regularly when she is Los Angeles.
g. Sleep Disorder
Lindsey very seldom has a full night's sleep. She suffers from extreme sleep disorders brought on by a combination of the physical pain, anxiety attacks and nightmares which she endures during sleep. These have not decreased in frequency since the accident, and she is very concerned that this is an area of mental anguish with which she will have to live for the rest of her life.
h. Severe Depression
In the neuro-psychological workup conducted on Lindsey, Dr. Porter describes Lindsey’s emotional distress as severe depression.
Since physical pain and suffering and mental anguish are the largest areas of damage to Lindsey, and considering that the effect of the multiple forms of mental anguish which she experiences effectively create a brooding omnipresence every moment of her life, we obviously will ask for the largest award herein to be compensation for such mental anguish.
We feel that an award of $100.00 per hour for past mental anguish is certainly within the realm of possibility considering the nature of the proof which we will present. Therefore, we will seek damages in the amount of $635,200.00 in compensation for past mental anguish. With respect to Lindsey’s lifetime of future pain and suffering and mental anguish, we will ask the jury to award $10.00 per hour for a total amount of $3,436,160.00.
3. Physical Disability
With respect to the element of physical disability, we anticipate asking the jury to award on the same basis as the physical pain since her physical disability is extreme, obvious and permanent.
We will prove that Lindsey can no longer participate in the numerous means of enjoying life which occupied considerable time prior to the injury. In describing Lindsey’s physical disability, Dr. Larry Porter stated as follows:
Personality: Personality assessment indicated that Ms. Wong is experiencing severe emotional distress. She is having a very difficult time adjusting to the loss of her leg and reported that she does not feel that her body is part of her anymore. She currently has a low self-concept because of her poor body image. Since the accident, she has no desire to be intimate with another person because of her negative feelings about her body. She is also experiencing anxiety about how her injuries will affect her future. She is afraid that her hip injury will make her unable to walk when she is older. Ms. Wong is currently experiencing periods of severe depression. Her depression is characterized by changes in her eating habits, sleep disturbance, and overall loss of self-esteem. Ms. Wong has mood swings involving both depression and anger. Since the accident, her activity level has significantly decreased, and it is difficult for her to become interested in things because her mood is dysphoric. She currently feels socially isolated and no longer feels part of her social environment. Since the accident, she has become apathetic and irritable.
Ms. Wong's behavior has become very impulsive and exhibits poor judgement. Ms. Wong has difficulty dealing with stress and may react to stress by withdrawing into fantasy and daydreams. She has difficulty dealing with feelings of anger and tends to be passive. At the present time, she is very frustrated, but has trouble coping with this emotion and, therefore, relies on the defense mechanisms of denial and repression excessively. Ms. Wong has a strong desire to appear independent and carefree. She tries to mask her low self-concept with jokes and grandiose remarks. At the present time, she is defensive and very sensitive to the opinions that other people have of her.
Dr. Renee D. Roggers and Dr. Jules H. Kellogg, an economist, have evaluated Lindsey’s damages for loss of enjoyment of life. Through the use of psychological tests, questionnaires and clinical interview, Dr. Roggers has determined the extent or degree of Lindsey’s loss of enjoyment of life with reference to four areas of functioning. These include practical functioning, emotional/psychological functioning, social functioning and occupational functioning. Dr. Roggers quantified these losses to rate Lindsey’s percentage of loss in each of the areas of functioning from the date of the accident throughout Lindsey’s life expectancy. The Psychological Evaluation, dated November 2, 1992, from Renee D. Roggers, Ph.D. provided the psychological assessment to Dr. Kellogg, the economist, with a percentage of loss, for each future age or stage of life with reference to the four areas of functioning, which were applied to the estimated value of the enjoyment of life. Dr. Kellogg estimates Lindsey’s loss of enjoyment of life to be $901,459 discounted to present value. The Economic Analysis, dated November 24, 1992, from Jules H. Kellogg, M.B.A., Ph.D. has previously been provided to you.
Our evidence will be that Lindsey was a very active woman who loved to socialize and participate in several other physical activities which were an integral part of her bubbly, outgoing personality. The same witnesses will now testify that Lindsey has become withdrawn, introspective, introverted and avoids social contact in every form because she feels that she is "a morbid spectacle" and does not want to be a "downer" to her friends by making everyone around her sad.
4. Disfigurement
Lindsey is permanently disfigured. In addition to the amputation of her left leg below the knee, she also has scars from the removal and transplanting of a vein and from skin and muscle grafting. Lindsey has a scar along the entire length of the inside of her right leg where a vein was removed and transplanted in her left leg. Lindsey has a scar on her back where a muscle flap was taken and grafted on her left leg. She also has scars on the donor sites of her thigh and buttocks from where skin was taken and grafted to the stump of her left leg.
