This thesis attempts to explain why personal injury plaintiffs tend to have poorerudhealth outcomes than non-litigants with similar injuries. It examines the role thatudinjured plaintiffs have to play in the litigation. The thesis develops the concept ofudthe "legal injury narrative" and argues that plaintiffs are required to tell theirudindividual stories in accordance with this master narrative in order to beudsuccessful in their claims. The legal injury narrative is analysed through theudgenre of melodrama. This reveals that the role injured plaintiffs are required toudplay in the narrative is a passive, mute and dependent one, and this has negativeudramifications for their health outcomes. Examining the legal injury narrative inudthis way also reveals some concerning consequences for society as a whole,udparticularly the way in which society responds to suffering and how normativeudassumptions in the law can perpetuate existings power hierarchies and genderudstereotypes. Mediation is considered as a possible alternative to litigation. Itudseems particularly useful as a way of supporting injured people and enablingudthem to tell their stories according to a tragic genre, which it is argued is moreudconducive to improved health outcomes. In particular it is argued thatudmediation, as a future directed procedure, is preferable to the legal injuryudnarrative's current focus on past events and restoring the status quo.
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