Expert Witness Journal Issue 64 December 2025 - Flipbook - Page 40
When Pain Persists:
Why Chronic Pain Cases
Demand Early Identi昀椀cation
by Philip Nicholas, Legal Director & Lee Cook, Partner at Weightmans
Early identi昀椀cation of chronic pain cases is often
di昀케cult. A case involving seemingly modest injuries
at the outset can often end up evolving into a costly
claim for Insurers.
Early identi昀椀cation of a chronic pain case has the
obvious and immediate bene昀椀t of enhanced insight
as to the claim’s potential value. Armed with this
knowledge, claim strategies and early settlement
o昀昀ers are better informed. Similarly, early settlement
coupled with swifter panel instruction can also have
the additional advantage of reducing the ultimate
monthly “burn rate” cost of the case. Our data shows
the average chronic pain case has a monthly burn
rate of £8,341.
The analysis of our data reveals why early
identi昀椀cation (and subsequent settlement) of such
cases is at times problematic. However, if defendants
and their insurers can identify these claims at the
earliest possible stage the potential 昀椀nancial bene昀椀ts
are signi昀椀cant.
It is important that insurers spot potential red 昀氀ags
early in what can be di昀케cult circumstances when
there may be little engagement from the claimant
and their team in some cases. Insurers in these
scenarios are too often left in the dark as to the
claim’s true potential value. This approach also
makes it more di昀케cult to alter the claim’s trajectory
once multi-disciplinary medical reports are obtained
and treatment programmes are already in place.
We examined our database of settled large loss
claims and found that alongside tetraplegic cases,
chronic pain cases have the longest average period
from the date of accident to date of settlement, at
1,331 days (approximately 3 and a half years).
Where our data most starkly demonstrates the
potential di昀케culties identifying chronic pain cases
is when looking at the period between the date of
accident and the date when instructions are received
from Insurers. The chronic pain injury type has
far and away the longest period between date of
accident and date of instruction, at an average of
823 days (approximately 2 ¼ years). For comparative
purposes, the injury type with the second longest
period has a period of 485 days (nearly 11 months
less compared to chronic pain cases).
So, how can Insurers spot potential red 昀氀ags and
other issues to identify sooner the potential of a
chronic pain case developing? One or more of the
triggers below may indicate a person is susceptible
to develop or su昀昀er a pain condition:
A natural question which follows is: do chronic pain
cases also have the longest average period between
receipt of instructions and settlement? In short – no,
far from it. Our data demonstrates that the average
period from the date of instruction to date of
settlement for a chronic pain case is the third lowest
of the injury types, at 508 days. For comparative
purposes, the injury type with the longest average
period from instruction to settlement is tetraplegic
injury at 1,165 days, and the shortest average period is
orthopaedic injury, at 427 days. The overall average
period from date of instruction to date of settlement
across all cases of all injury types is 630 days.
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
37
•
Ongoing symptoms greater than 6 - 12 months.
•
Pain and disability exhibiting without cause.
•
Deteriorating symptoms.
•
Pain and disability greater than can be explained
by underlying physical cause.
•
No anatomical or physiological explanation in
some cases.
•
50% of neurology outpatients have a functional
symptom.
•
Are medical records being withheld without
cause?
•
Is there a ‘diagnosis’ or any reference to pain in
medical records, comments made to experts by
a claimant or by an expert generally?
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2025-2026
