3 minute read time
Before creating ClaimData, I developed a rudimentary symptom and impairment tracking survey that I sent to my clients via email every day.
One client had been doing the daily survey for about 6 months. When we had a call to discuss her report, she said it actually made her cry (she even got tearful as we were talking). Clients often cry when describing their conditions and difficulties so this wasn’t entirely surprising. But as we continued talking, she explained that she cried not because the results were so depressing or discouraging but because she felt so validated by them: “this is what I’ve been trying to tell people, no one really understands because I look fine but now I have proof of what I go through.”
This conversation radically changed my understanding of the potential importance of this kind of daily reporting. It’s not just helpful to the attorney or to the client’s providers. During that conversation I began to understand how much this might help my clients cope with the psychological pain of debilitating illness: particularly when that illness is “invisible.”
When clients have the opportunity to report their daily struggles, it gives them the sense that they’re at least doing what they can to help their situation. By giving them a voice in this way, they can regain some sense of agency over their lives.
And when they see a summary of their symptoms and difficulties over time, it helps to remind them that it’s not all in their head. Rather than the shame they so often feel, they can feel pride in enduring what for most of us would be intolerable.
Of course, ClaimData isn’t intended to diagnose or treat mental illness. But we’re constantly working to develop the platform so that clients feel more supported during the extremely trying process of pursuing a legal claim. We hope this level of increased support will help you provide better client service while at the same time easing this burden for you and your staff.
I couldn’t find an app or software that met my specific needs so I created ClaimData to help attorneys like myself and the clients we have the privilege to represent. If you can think of any way that ClaimData can better help you do this important work, please get in touch. Thank you for representing the sick and injured.