Injuries suffered in a car accident don’t necessarily only cause physical impairment or psychological issues.  Injuries can also be disfiguring.

In particular, motor vehicle accidents such as those seen in ICBC Claims that lead to scarring and disfigurement can involve broken glass from a shattered windshield.  Airbags can also contribute to facial scarring, particularly when it interacts with broken glass.

Burns, explosions, and chemical exposure can also result in scarring.  Medical mistakes, dog bites and lacerations also can all cause scarring and disfigurement.  Injuries necessitating surgery leave behind scars, some more significant and more prominent than others.  In addition, broken bones that don’t heal properly, such as those to the face, or other such injuries can all leave an individual with scars and disfiguring characteristics.

Disfigurements that affects areas of the body such as the face, arms and hands can cause greater distress for individuals than scarring or disfigurement to other parts of the body as these are most visible to others.  Coming to terms with disfigurement can vary widely between individuals.  Sometimes factors influencing how a person copes with disfigurement can include age, occupation, gender, pre-existing self-image and identity, social and emotional circumstances, as well as a host of other factors.

Disfigurement and the Law

Disfigurement or scarring can be differently quantified than those injuries that cause a limitation in physical ability.  A wide set of circumstances is taken into account by the courts when determining compensation for disfigurement.

Those who make ICBC Claims for disfigurement or scarring can be compensated for suffering and quality of life issues, psychological issues stemming from disfigurement such as depression and lowered self confidence, or psychosocial issues such as prejudice or intolerance.  Depending on the individual, disfigurement can also have negative career or occupational effects if appearance is a part of the job (such as an actor or model, for instance).  There can also be a host of other wide-ranging consequences that result from an individual becoming disfigured in some way.

As with all matters regarding legal compensation, the actual effects of injuries on an individual should have a direct correlation on compensation.  These effects can be related to the past, present or future – as in potential effects that are necessary to be quantified.

Disfigurement and Treatment

The way in which disfigurement or scarring is treated depends on the type of injury and the severity of it.  For serious burns, intensive care, reconstructive surgery, and rehabilitation therapy is necessary.  For other types of disfigurement, surgery can correct these.  Individuals may also require counselling or medication to deal with the emotional and psychological effects of a disfigurement.

Most importantly, an individual dealing with permanent changes to their appearance need to be promptly treated.  Even if it appears that there are no effects, it is important to ensure that scarring or disfigurement is taken into account as part of the overall injuries sustained by an individual.

Disfigurement, Scarring and ICBC Claims

With respect to ICBC Claims, it is important to account for disfigurement as  part of a compensation claim.  In tort law – the type of law that usually governs personal injury law – the courts aim to put an individual back to the position they were in “but for” the accident.  In other words, the question that must be answered is: What position would the individual be in if the accident had not occurred?

Of course, putting an individual back to the position they were in but for the accident is not always possible.  In those cases, compensation is the solution – a distant second, of course, to anyone who has suffered from a disfiguring injury, but it is the primary way the law has of making a person whole again, or as near as possible to the position they would have been in had the accident not occurred.

ICBC Claims must take the law into account since if the claim cannot be settled, a lawsuit must be commenced.  Auto insurance is meant to cover losses sustained by an individual injured in a motor vehicle collision.  Part of those injuries include any disfigurement – be it moderate or severe – arising out the car crash.