Chronic Pain Syndrome Following Georgia Accidents

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Pain that continues after an injury has healed is what MedlinePlus calls chronic pain, and complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic pain condition that “may happen after an injury.” A Georgia claim for either condition has to answer how the condition is proved when, as MedlinePlus states of CRPS, “[t]here is no specific diagnostic test”; how pain is measured as damages; and when the filing period starts if pain becomes chronic after the accident.

Chronic Pain and CRPS

MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine’s consumer health service, distinguishes acute pain, which “starts suddenly and goes away when the cause is treated or healed,” from chronic pain, which lasts longer than three months or longer than the time in which healing should have occurred. It states that “[s]ometimes, acute pain can become chronic pain” and that “[t]he original cause may have been an injury or infection.” Chronic pain can occur anywhere in the body and can bring fatigue, mood changes, and difficulty sleeping; depression or stress may make it worse, and it can affect all aspects of daily life, including mood and relationships. Treatment may include medicines, including pain relievers, and non-drug treatments such as acupuncture, physical therapy, and “sometimes surgery.” MedlinePlus states that “[c]hronic pain is not always curable, but treatments can help.”

MedlinePlus describes complex regional pain syndrome, also called causalgia or reflex sympathetic dystrophy, as “a chronic pain condition” that “causes intense pain, usually in the arms, hands, legs, or feet,” and states that “[i]t may happen after an injury, either to a nerve or to tissue in the affected area.” The symptoms it lists in the affected area are dramatic changes in skin temperature, color, or texture; intense burning pain; extreme skin sensitivity; swelling and stiffness in affected joints; and decreased ability to move the affected body part. “The cause of CRPS is unknown.” MedlinePlus states that “[t]here is no cure,” that CRPS “can get worse over time, and may spread to other parts of the body,” and that “[o]ccasionally the symptoms go away, either temporarily or for good.” Treatment “focuses on relieving the pain, and can include medicines, physical therapy, and nerve blocks.”

Proving a Condition Without a Specific Test

For CRPS, MedlinePlus states that there is no specific diagnostic test and that a doctor diagnoses the condition from its signs and symptoms. For chronic pain whose cause is unknown, it describes a provider asking about medical history, asking the patient to describe the pain and how it affects the patient’s life, doing a physical exam, and ordering blood tests or other medical tests.

In Georgia, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education may give an opinion if the expert’s knowledge will help the jury understand the evidence or decide a fact in issue, the testimony rests on sufficient facts or data and on reliable principles and methods, and the expert has applied those methods reliably to the facts of the case (OCGA 24-7-702(b)). The opinion may rest on facts proved by other witnesses (OCGA 24-7-702(a)). In a CRPS claim, then, the facts behind an expert’s opinion include the signs and symptoms on which MedlinePlus says the diagnosis rests.

Measuring Pain as Damages

Georgia’s Code, in its section on arguing damages, counts physical or emotional pain, suffering, mental anguish, physical impairment, and loss of enjoyment of life among noneconomic damages, and past and future medical expenses and costs of therapy among economic damages (OCGA 9-10-184(a)(1), (2)). The effects MedlinePlus describes correspond to these items: pain, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and mood changes to pain, suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life; a decreased ability to move the affected body part to physical impairment; and medicines, physical therapy, and nerve blocks to medical expenses and costs of therapy.

The same statute leaves the measure of noneconomic damages to the conscience of an impartial jury (OCGA 9-10-184(b)). Counsel may argue a monetary value for them only after the close of evidence, at the party’s first opportunity to argue damages, and only in an argument rationally related to the evidence of those damages (OCGA 9-10-184(c)(1)). For a cause of action arising on or after April 21, 2025, special damages for medical expenses are limited to the reasonable value of medically necessary care, treatment, or services (OCGA 51-12-1.1(b)), and each side keeps the right to challenge the reasonableness of incurred or projected future expenses and the medical necessity of any treatment (OCGA 51-12-1.1(f)).

When the Filing Period Starts

An action for injuries to the person must be brought within two years after the right of action accrues (OCGA 9-3-33). In Amu v. Barnes, a medical malpractice case, the Supreme Court of Georgia restated two rules from earlier decisions: “[t]he true test to determine when the cause of action accrued is to ascertain the time when the plaintiff could first have maintained his action to a successful result,” and “[a]n action for personal injury does not ‘accrue’ until the tort is complete, and a tort is not complete until injury is sustained.”

Georgia also recognizes a continuing tort theory. In Mears v. Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., an emotional distress case, the Court of Appeals quoted the Supreme Court of Georgia’s description of the theory as applying “where any negligent or tortious act is of a continuing nature and produces injury in varying degrees over a period of time,” with the limitation period not beginning to run “until such time as the continued tortious act producing injury is eliminated.” By its terms, the theory requires that the negligent or tortious act itself be “of a continuing nature,” not only that the injury develop over time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if the accident happened at work?
Georgia’s workers’ compensation remedies replace the employee’s other rights and remedies against the employer for the injury, but the employee keeps the right to sue a third-party tort-feasor, subject to exceptions the statute lists, such as an employee of the same employer (OCGA 34-9-11(a)).

Will CRPS improve with rest and time?
MedlinePlus states: “Rest and time may only make it worse.”

Who is more likely to develop chronic pain?
MedlinePlus states that “[m]any older adults have chronic pain,” that women report more chronic pain than men, and that certain conditions, such as headaches or migraines, arthritis, nerve damage, and back problems, may make chronic pain more likely.

  • MedlinePlus (National Library of Medicine), “Chronic Pain” (last updated June 19, 2025); “Complex Regional Pain Syndrome” (last updated Aug. 23, 2024)
  • OCGA 24-7-702(a), (b)
  • OCGA 9-10-184(a)(1), (2), (b), (c)(1)
  • OCGA 51-12-1.1(b), (f); SB 68 (2025), as passed, Section 9(b)
  • OCGA 9-3-33
  • OCGA 34-9-11(a)
  • Amu v. Barnes, 662 S.E.2d 113 (Ga. 2008), quoting Allrid v. Emory Univ., 249 Ga. 35 (1982), and Shessel v. Stroup, 253 Ga. 56 (1984)
  • Mears v. Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., 484 S.E.2d 659 (Ga. Ct. App. 1997), quoting Everhart v. Rich’s, Inc., 229 Ga. 798 (1972)

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about chronic pain and complex regional pain syndrome claims under Georgia law. It is not medical advice or legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. How a claim is proved and when it must be filed depend on the injury, the medical evidence, and the specific facts. A person with pain that continues after an accident should seek medical care and consult a licensed Georgia attorney promptly about the particular situation.

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