I have been a practicing attorney for just under 40 years, and I have been fortunate to have lived those 40 years in good health. Through my practice as an ERISA/Disability Insurance claims lawyer, I have experienced vicariously the terrible tragedy which injury and/or illness can mean for an unsuspecting family otherwise enjoying their lives and pursuing their dreams. Over the years I have prided myself on having developed a strong sense of empathy and compassion toward my clients, trying always to appreciate the dear price that clients paid for being unlucky enough to get sick or injured.

But the experience I have had in the last year, dealing with the very first health challenge of my own life, has illustrated, as nothing else could, just how limited my appreciation has been about the plight of my clients. I have now concluded that the extent of their lost quality of life, not to mention the chronic pain and suffering with which many clients must contend on a regular, daily basis, cannot fully be understood by a third-party observer, no matter how empathetic.  Over the decades of my practice, I have made numerous written and oral arguments about pain and how it can tragically derail the lives of even the most capable human beings. Even so, since I was lucky not to have ever experienced such challenges in my own life, I never really “got it” until it happened to me, albeit on a much less serious, long-term basis.