About a year ago, my husband and our two young children and I were in a car accident for which we were found at zero fault. (A car ran a red light and hit us as we were moving through the intersection.) No one was seriously injured: I received a neck injury that still nags me but doesn’t prevent me from working or doing activities; my husband had some bruising; one child was too young at the time to register what was happening and was uninjured; my other child was psychologically affected but had no physical injuries. We sought therapy for him, and he has since fully recovered. Our car was completely wrecked, and we received an insurance payout to replace it. At the time, several friends urged us to see a lawyer to make sure we received fair financial compensation for the accident.

We live in British Columbia, where every car owner must pay into a public insurance system. We knew that we would receive some insurance money if we did not have a lawyer, but we were told that with one, our payout would be bigger. I was hesitant, but I was ultimately convinced because we didn’t know the extent of my neck injury or my child’s psychological trauma. It is about a year later now, and my husband has received $20,000 for his claim; I have received $20,000 and my son $25,000 (this is before lawyer fees). Our other son did not receive any money because he was uninjured.

I feel appalled about the amount of money that we are taking from the public system, when it’s clear that we will have no long-term effects. Many of my friends, including my husband, have the view that this is fair compensation, given that this was a very traumatic episode for which we should receive pain-and-suffering compensation. I can’t shake the feeling that we are taking advantage of the situation. For more context, my husband and I both have good jobs, and we are not in desperate need of money. Name Withheld

This is, if you will excuse my saying so, a very Canadian problem. In your province, British Columbia, you have a public system of auto insurance in addition to a public system of health care that means you don’t have to worry about medical expenses. Excessively generous insurance systems? This is a burden most U.S. citizens have been spared.

The question of how much compensation for pain and suffering is appropriate has no straightforward answer. Moral theory doesn’t fix a monetary value on these things. The right amount is largely a matter of what’s customary in comparable cases. Your concern that you’ve been given too much is admirable, and yet the amounts you mentioned aren’t wildly higher than the British Columbian average. If the citizens of your province, or their elected representatives, seek to cap such payouts, they can do so. And in fact they have: Lower limits on pain-and-suffering claims for minor injuries took effect last April. In the meantime, you can take consolation in the thought that these sums, though large to you, are tiny compared with the scale of the public insurance system. And you’re free to find a well-run charity and to direct some of the damages you’ve been paid to those whose needs are beyond question.