Catastrophic injuries will have a permanent, negative effect on your life. Many people think of the worst physical injuries possible, like brain or spinal cord damage, which could leave someone dependent on medical support and end their career.
Catastrophic injuries lead to lifelong consequences and can impact many areas of someone’s life, ranging from their family situation to employment. People sometimes fail to realize the injuries that are seemingly entirely cosmetic can have similarly damaging consequences.
Permanent disfigurement can cause pain and physical limitations in addition to affecting how other people perceive you. More worryingly, a disfiguring injury could irrevocably affect your ability to continue in your career and, thus, impact your earning potential.
Your appearance has an impact on your career success
Humans are, all too often, very shallow creatures. People make snap judgments about one another within seconds of meeting based on grooming, clothing and biological factors like facial symmetry that an individual has no control over.
Research repeatedly shows that attractive people receive more compensation and career opportunities than those who are less attractive. Someone considered highly attractive could make between 7-13% more for the same work than their co-workers who aren’t so lucky in the appearance department.
A disfiguring injury won’t necessarily affect your ability to do your job unless you are a model or someone else in the public eye. However, even warehouse workers and other employees may find that their injuries affect what they earn in the jobs that they can secure. There could be a lifelong impact on your income and opportunities.
Pursuing compensation after a catastrophic injury requires a holistic view of the impact the injury will cause, including long-term financial consequences.