PMID- 9565919
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 19980623
LR  - 20151119
IS  - 0894-9867 (Print)
IS  - 0894-9867 (Linking)
VI  - 11
IP  - 2
DP  - 1998 Apr
TI  - Effects of litigation settlements on posttraumatic stress symptoms in motor 
      vehicle accident victims.
PG  - 337-54
AB  - In order to investigate the effects of the initiation of litigation and its 
      settlement on victims of motor vehicle accidents (MVAs), we followed up 132 MVA 
      victims from an initial assessment 1 to 4 months post-MVA for 1 year. Of the 67 
      who had initiated litigation, 18 (27%) settled within the 12 months, while 49 
      still had litigation pending; 65 never initiated litigation. Those who initiated 
      litigation had more severe injuries and higher initial levels of posttraumatic 
      stress (PTS) symptoms. All three groups improved in major role function and had 
      reduced PTS symptoms over the 1 year follow-up. Those whose suits were still 
      pending, as well as those whose suits had been settled, showed no reduction in 
      measures of anxiety or depression, whereas the nonlitigants did show improvement 
      on these measures.
FAU - Blanchard, E B
AU  - Blanchard EB
AD  - Center for Stress and Anxiety Disorders, University at Albany-SUNY 12203, USA.
FAU - Hickling, E J
AU  - Hickling EJ
FAU - Taylor, A E
AU  - Taylor AE
FAU - Buckley, T C
AU  - Buckley TC
FAU - Loos, W R
AU  - Loos WR
FAU - Walsh, J
AU  - Walsh J
LA  - eng
GR  - MH-48476/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/United States
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
PL  - United States
TA  - J Trauma Stress
JT  - Journal of traumatic stress
JID - 8809259
SB  - IM
MH  - Accidents, Traffic/*legislation & jurisprudence/*psychology
MH  - Adult
MH  - Employment
MH  - Female
MH  - Follow-Up Studies
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Psychological Tests
MH  - Severity of Illness Index
MH  - Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosis/etiology/*prevention & control
MH  - Surveys and Questionnaires
EDAT- 1998/05/05 00:00
MHDA- 1998/05/05 00:01
CRDT- 1998/05/05 00:00
PHST- 1998/05/05 00:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 1998/05/05 00:01 [medline]
PHST- 1998/05/05 00:00 [entrez]
AID - 10.1023/A:1024407321677 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - J Trauma Stress. 1998 Apr;11(2):337-54. doi: 10.1023/A:1024407321677.