What Happens When Mom Gets Hurt?

It’s a nightmare scenario. There is nothing worse than a loved one being subject to an injury or an illness. It can change the family dynamic, sometimes permanently. Here are some of the things to expect when a stay at home parent becomes injured.

The whole family is affected.

The first thing that happens, and can come as a surprise, is that every member of the family is affected by the injury. Family dynamics change. Roles have to be adjusted. Family members have to help pick up the duties that were once filled by the injured person.

In addition to sharing duties, the confusion and upset around the circumstances of an injury can spread through every family member. It can be hard for kids to cope with situations that are out of the norm, and an injury to a mother is an extreme case.

Kids don’t react well.

Children who were once cheerful and positive can suddenly seem like the moodiest of teenagers. The problem is that they simply don’t know how to cope with this unexpected situation. They are used to structure and patterns of behavior, and this falls outside those norms. Learning to understand the new home paradigm will take time and effort on the part of caregivers.

Depression is common.

Research has shown that caregivers whose approach to problem solving is negative, avoidant, or impulsive are more likely to be depressed after an accident. Similarly, if your coping style is emotion-focused, you are more likely to feel “burdened” when a family member is injured.

Because of these unexpected emotional and psychological effects of physical injury, it is essential that an injured family seeks help immediately, to intervene before these feelings become ingrained.

Injury to a caregiver costs more than the price of medical care.

You may not ever think of what a stay at home caregiver does in terms of money, but think for a moment about all that he or she does. Think about the tasks that are handled, the hours of time put in, the skills used in the day to day work at home. The value of such tasks is immense – especially when added up over the course of a year.

Salary.com estimates the average stay at home parent should be paid about 118,000 dollars for all the work they do. Of course, they often see zero. This article clearly demonstrates that personal injury attorneys think that the monetary value of stay at home parents is probably much much higher when in substantials like the comfort of a home or the security of having a parent there are considered.

All this means that keeping the same quality of life at home can be vastly more expensive after a caregiver is injured. Emergency savings, disability insurance, and insurance settlements might not be sufficient to truly compensate for that.

Is it all bad news?

So is it all gloom and doom when mom gets injured? No, it doesn’t have to be. Certainly it will be a trial. Certainly it will be challenging to overcome these unexpected obstacles. But it can be done. Seek professional help as soon as possible. Speak with a counsellor, speak with a lawyer, be pro-active. Then an injury, while challenging, will not be devastating.

How to Move Forward

No stay-at-home parent wants to deal with paperwork after suffering from an injury, but it is necessary. The best course of action, after seeking medical help, is to contact a long-term disability insurance lawyer. These highly-educated individuals are specifically trained to ensure that you suffer as little as possible while dealing with insurance claims after the injury. Lawyers like Quadrino Schwartz will listen to your situation and use their extensive legal knowledge to make sure your compensation is as fair (and generous) as it can possibly be.