What Is the Average Settlement for Paraquat?

What Is the Average Settlement for Paraquat?

If you are dealing with Parkinson’s symptoms due to Paraquat exposure, you may deserve compensation. However, many people wonder how much compensation they can recover for a Paraquat claim. Claim amounts vary significantly depending on the extent of symptoms and their impact on your life and finances. However, looking at Paraquat’s previous claims can help you determine your next steps and how to move forward with your claim effectively.

How Much Can I Obtain as Part of a Paraquat Lawsuit?

The compensation you deserve after exposure to Paraquat depends on many important factors. No attorney can give you an idea of how much compensation you can recover without a thorough review of your case. A lawyer can help you look at the elements of your specific Paraquat claim and how you can put together a claim for compensation that will cover the damages you sustained.

When did you receive your Parkinson’s diagnosis?

If you only recently received a Parkinson’s diagnosis, you may not yet know how quickly your symptoms will progress or how it will affect you long-term. Parkinson’s symptoms often come on slowly and progress over time. You may have relatively minor symptoms now but anticipate further symptoms in the near future.

On the other hand, if your Parkinson’s diagnosis occurred some time ago, you may have a better overall feel for the progression of the disease, including how quickly you will likely decline and what you can anticipate for the impact on your life.

What medical treatment have you pursued for your Parkinson’s symptoms, and what do your medical costs look like now?

Medical treatment does not exist that can cure Parkinson’s disease. However, medical treatment can alleviate many of the symptoms you deal with, making it easier for you to manage your life. Medical treatment often proves costly. By clearly laying out the medical costs you have faced as a direct result of Parkinson’s disease treatment, you can include those medical costs as part of your claim.

Treatment costs may include:

• Medications. Often, patients with Parkinson’s disease will take medications designed to alleviate their immediate symptoms. Medications can help with tremors or make moving and walking easier. Over time, however, the medications that worked for you early in the progression of the disease may not work as well, so you may need to change those medications to continue seeing a benefit to your symptoms.
• Surgeries. Some surgical procedures, including deep brain stimulation, can help treat more advanced Parkinson’s disease symptoms. However, surgical procedures carry their own risks, which patients may need to consider carefully before deciding to proceed with treatment.
• In-home care. In many cases, patients with Parkinson’s will require additional care and supervision at home. They may have medical care providers come to provide that care, or aid in self-care tasks, particularly as mobility decreases and tremors increase.
• Hospitalization. Parkinson’s patients may need to spend time in the hospital to aid in treating symptoms. In some cases, as patients decline, they may experience longer hospital stays.
• Nursing home care. As Parkinson’s symptoms progress, many patients will need more care than their families can provide at home. They may end up in a nursing home, which can further increase the overall cost of care.

Talk to your lawyer about all the medical costs associated with Parkinson’s treatment, including the cost of in-home care or care designed to help make your life easier after diagnosis. Those costs may form the foundation of your claim and make it easier for you to get the compensation you deserve.

Did your Parkinson’s diagnosis interfere with your ability to work? What income have you missed out on because of Parkinson’s disease?

How much Parkinson’s disease impacts your ability to work may depend on your industry and the overall progression of your disease. Some patients may have relatively minor symptoms that they can control easily with medication, which means that Parkinson’s disease may not impact their ability to work immediately.

On the other hand, patients with more serious symptoms early in the progression of the disease may find it more difficult to complete their work tasks. Furthermore, patients who work in industries that require a high level of precision may find that Parkinson’s disease prevents them from working sooner than patients who work in industries where their employer or their coworkers can help make allowances for their limitations.

For example, a surgeon who works in a very delicate field may find that even early-onset tremors prevent him from completing surgery successfully. Likewise, an artist who needs to deal with precise work may find it more difficult to complete his creative projects while suffering from tremors and other problems associated with Parkinson’s disease.

On the other hand, someone who typically works outdoors, doing yard work, may find it easier to continue their usual job tasks for a longer following diagnosis.

The sooner you had to stop working because of a Parkinson’s diagnosis, the more compensation you have the right to claim for income loss or lost earning potential due to Paraquat exposure.

What suffering, including physical and emotional challenges, did you face because of your Parkinson’s diagnosis?

A Parkinson’s diagnosis can cause many patients a great deal of suffering. Not only can some of the symptoms of Parkinson’s prove very physically uncomfortable, but finding out that you have a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis can lead to significant emotional challenges.

Many patients grieve over the loss of the life they expected to live or the potentially lost years associated with Parkinson’s disease. Others find that Parkinson’s disease impacts their relationships, including their relationship with their spouses or children.

Parkinson’s disease may also significantly impact autonomy and independence: people lose the ability to care for themselves fully and may need more assistance from others to carry out basic tasks. That loss of independence can prove devastating to their quality of life.

Talk to your lawyer about the suffering you may have faced. You may have the right to compensation for the non-financial elements of suffering you may have had to deal with as a direct result of a Parkinson’s diagnosis. Your lawyer can help you determine how to include those elements as part of your claim, making it easier for you to recover that much-needed compensation.

Can you clearly establish Paraquat exposure?

To file a Paraquat lawsuit involving a Parkinson’s diagnosis, you must show that you faced exposure to Paraquat. Since it can take years for Parkinson’s symptoms to develop, you may struggle to provide proof of your exposure to Paraquat.

By working with a lawyer, you can get the support to establish that you used Paraquat and that it led to your Parkinson’s diagnosis. However, if you do not have significant evidence of that usage, you may find it more difficult to get the full compensation you expect for your injuries and losses.

You may benefit from, for example, evidence that clearly shows that you worked for a company that used Paraquat regularly or that Paraquat was in many of the weed killers you regularly used at home. A lawyer can help you gather that evidence to use in your claim.

Do you have a lawyer on your side?

Despite clear evidence that you have a Parkinson’s diagnosis likely caused by Paraquat usage in the past, you may find that the company and insurer will fight hard to reduce the compensation they pay out for the damages you sustained.

By working with a lawyer, you can often significantly increase the compensation you can recover.

• A lawyer can help you locate evidence that can help establish Paraquat usage or usage of specific weed killer products that likely contained Paraquat, making it easier for you to show the connection between your exposure and diagnosis.
• A lawyer can help you pull together a list of the financial damages you suffered from Paraquat exposure, allowing you to form a compelling claim indicating the compensation you expect and deserve.
• A lawyer can help you understand the compensation you should expect as part of your Paraquat claim, which may make it easier for you to fight for the full compensation you expect for those damages.
• A lawyer can help take care of the legal parts of your claim, which may make it easier for you to focus on your life and health instead of your claim.

Many people find that simply working with an attorney increases their ability to recover the compensation they deserve from all types of injury claims, including Paraquat-related claims.

Do You Have Grounds for a Paraquat Settlement?

In general, you may have grounds for a Paraquat claim if:

• You used a weed killer containing Paraquat regularly before its recall
• You have a Parkinson’s diagnosis that likely relates to Paraquat exposure

If you do not have a Parkinson’s diagnosis, or a diagnosis of another medical condition related to Paraquat usage, you may not have grounds to file a claim. A lawyer can help you evaluate your usage and symptoms and give you a better idea of whether you have the right to file a claim and the evidence you need to move forward with that claim.

What Should You Do After a Parkinson’s Diagnosis?

You have a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis and suspect it relates to weed killer usage. Now what?

Following the right steps can help protect your right to compensation.

• Get a copy of your medical records, including paperwork establishing your diagnosis.
• Listen to your doctor’s instructions. Take the steps you need to help reduce your symptoms or slow their progression. Work with your doctor to establish a treatment plan to help you manage your symptoms.
• Talk to a lawyer as soon as you can. You may need to move forward with an injury claim as soon as possible to increase the odds that you will recover the compensation you deserve after a Parkinson’s diagnosis. Talking to a lawyer will also help improve your ability to navigate legal proceedings.
• Continue to follow your treatment plan. While your Parkinson’s symptoms may have occurred due to Paraquat exposure, you must show that you have taken steps to remedy them to make it easier to get the compensation you deserve.
• Document the challenges you may face from Paraquat exposure and the associated Parkinson’s symptoms. Keep a journal that details the progression of your symptoms. That journal may be a vital source of dates when you look back. Furthermore, document any challenges you face because of your Parkinson’s symptoms, including emotional challenges or changes to your relationships.

If you have a Parkinson’s diagnosis related to Paraquat exposure, having a lawyer on your side can prove critical to managing the details of your claim and maximizing the compensation you deserve. Contact an experienced personal injury attorney after your diagnosis for your free case evaluation and receive legal support to guide you through your claim.