When you get hurt in an accident, or when you are suing for a loved one’s death, pain and suffering will be an important part of your case. This involves the conscious physical and emotional distress one goes through during and after an accident, and how we prove it can often be complicated.
In most cases, you can testify about your own pain and suffering. You can get on the stand and tell the court how much injuries and treatment hurt, but experts like your therapist and medical providers can also testify. When someone dies and you are suing for their pre-injury pain and suffering, a new 2026 case in South Carolina suggests that you do not need an expert to testify; lay witnesses can also discuss the victim’s pain and suffering.
For help with an injury or wrongful death case, call our Columbia, SC personal injury attorneys at Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers today at (803) 451-4000.
What is Pain and Suffering?
Pain and suffering is an umbrella term that covers the physical pain, mental suffering, embarrassment, and effects of disfigurement in an accident. This term is often used interchangeably with “non-economic damages” and can cover other things like emotional distress, too.
Generally
Pain and suffering damages are claimed in an injury case to cover the intangible harms of an injury. You can get paid for “economic” damages like medical bills and lost wages, but you should also be paid for the injury itself, how much it hurt, and its other effects.
Conscious Pain and Suffering Only
South Carolina law does not recognize unconscious pain and suffering. If you are knocked out and it doesn’t hurt, that often will not count towards your pain and suffering. However, if you are awake and scared after being trapped in a car or you are dealing with the pain and life changes of being paralyzed in a car crash, that certainly qualifies.
“Pre-Impact” Pain and Suffering Not Covered
At some point along the way in an accident case, the accident actually “happens,” whether it be a crash or some other sort of accident. Only pain and suffering after that point is covered in South Carolina.
For example, the fear that a bad driver causes you while swerving in front of you is not part of their pain and suffering until the crash happens. In another example in the Abel case discussed below, the fear while actively drowning did qualify.
How is Pain and Suffering Proven?
Usually, there are no bills for these amounts of damages, so we use the evidence we do have.
Testimony
Usually, you and others in your life can testify about your pain and suffering. You can tell the jury directly from the stand how much it hurt, how it impacted your life, and how bad it was. Your family might also testify about the changes they witnessed, such as your lost abilities (which are part of pain and suffering).
Psych/Medical Records
Your doctor’s or therapist’s records of your pain, reports of mental well-being, etc., plus records of what injuries and procedures were involved in your care, can also be used as proof of pain and suffering.
Calculation Methods
We can calculate these non-economic damages in a couple of different ways:
- The multiplier method chooses a multiplier based on the severity of your injury and multiplies that by your total economic damages.
- The per diem method selects a value for the pain and suffering for each day, usually using your daily wages as a starting point. It then multiplies that by the number of days you experienced pain and suffering.
What Witnesses Do You Need?
In most cases, you can testify yourself. In wrongful death cases, the victim is not there to testify, so you will need other witnesses.
In either case, these witnesses can testify:
- Eyewitnesses to the accident can talk about screams and statements the victim let out.
- Family of the victim can testify about changes they experienced, e.g., total paralysis.
- Doctors and therapists who treat the victim can testify.
- Experts can be used for various purposes, such as explaining brain activity on the verge of death and what can possibly be experienced.
Are Expert Witnesses Needed to Prove Pain and Suffering in a Wrongful Death Case?
Expert witnesses are sometimes helpful, but, as the 2026 Abel case shows, they are not always needed.
What Do Experts Testify About?
Experts may include doctors and therapists who treated the victim, who can testify about what they witnessed while providing care. E.g., if the victim stated they wanted to end their life to stop the suffering, their therapist can testify about that in court.
An interesting point is that experts may be used in wrongful death claims to testify about what pain and suffering the victim could have faced. They can speak to whether the victim would have been conscious, and at what stages. This is important because only conscious pain and suffering the victim can actually feel will be compensated.
Lay Witnesses vs. Expert Witnesses
A lay witness is someone who has no specialized knowledge. They can only testify about what they saw and heard, and they cannot give opinions. Some things they heard other people say also cannot be used as evidence, given that it is hearsay.
Experts, on the other hand, have specialized training or experience in medical or technical fields. They can testify about that info to help explain things in the case to the court. They may be asked to analyze a situation and testify about it from a technical perspective, even if they did not witness the accident. They can also give expert opinions.
Abel v. Lack’s Beach Service (2026)
In a 2026 case, an appellate court in South Carolina upheld the damages in a wrongful death case based on a drowning. In that case, there were lay witnesses who saw the drowning happen, who were permitted to testify about the victim’s shouts and gasps as evidence of pre-death pain and suffering. Their testimony about sand and water in the victim’s mouth was also used as evidence of drowning.
The court upheld this lay testimony as sufficient. They did not require the plaintiffs to support these claims with expert testimony about drowning, consciousness, or medical examination of the drowning. Lawyers involved in this case took this as a win for not needing medical experts for cases like these.
Call Our South Carolina Personal Injury Lawyers Today
Call our South Carolina personal injury attorneys at Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers for a free case review at (803) 451-4000.
