Top Five Car Crash Injuries

Every year, vehicle collisions cause millions of serious or catastrophic (fatal or life-threatening) injuries. The five car crash wounds discussed below account for most of these injuries. In addition to serious or life-threatening, most of these injuries are permanent, at least to some extent. The medical bills alone in a serious injury case usually exceed $40,000. Group health insurance plans often exclude these costs, meaning the victim is financially responsible for them.

A Carlsbad auto accident lawyer obtains the compensation these victims need to pay medical and other expenses, so they can move on with their lives. This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Additional punitive damages may be available as well, in some extreme cases.

Broken Bones

Safety restraint systems reduce the risk of and/or severity of many collision-related injuries. But these safety restraint systems do little to prevent broken arm and leg bones. Usually, during an accident, a victim’s limbs flail wildly and strike a solid surface.

Broken arms usually mean permanent loss of motion in a shoulder, elbow, or other joint. Broken arms are also more susceptible to further injury, mostly another break, after they heal.

Doctors typically use invasive methods that include metal parts to set broken leg bones. Since the recovery period is longer for these injuries, the victim requires additional physical therapy.

In both cases, a Carlsbad personal injury lawyer helps ensure that the insurance company pays for reasonably necessary treatment.

PTSD

Extreme stress, like the extreme stress of a serious car wreck, changes the brain’s chemical composition. Stress inflames the amygdala, which is the part of the brain that controls emotional responses. Because of this expansion, the hippocampus (logical responses) shrinks. This chemical imbalance causes symptoms like depression and anger.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has a chemical solution as well as a chemical cause. Unfortunately, the FDA has only approved two PTSD treatment drugs in the last twenty years. Furthermore, these medicines are primarily antidepressants. So, they may not treat all of the victim’s symptoms.

sTBI/mTBI

The motion of a wreck, not a trauma impact, often causes an sTBI (severe Traumatic Brain Injury). If the brain slams against the inside of the skull, as is often the case during car crashes, it swells and bleeds. These injuries are life-threatening and difficult to treat.

An mTBI (mild Traumatic Brain Injury) isn’t very mild. Concussions, by themselves, create serious problems. Additionally, if the victim has a history of such head injuries, the victim could develop CTE, a possibly fatal brain disease.

Internal Injuries

The motion of a wreck causes the brain to slam against the skull and internal organs to slam into one another. A kidney, liver, stomach, or another internal organ has no protective skin layer. As a result, even a minor abrasion or laceration usually causes severe internal bleeding.

Spine Injuries

The above injuries are very common in high-speed wrecks. Spine injuries, specifically whiplash, are common in low-speed wrecks.

Whiplash is a motion-related injury that affects nerves in the cervical spine. This nerve injury, which is a soft tissue injury that doesn’t appear on most diagnostic test results, could cause paralysis.

Work With a Diligent San Diego County Lawyer

Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Carlsbad, contact the Pursley Law Firm. Virtual, home, and hospital visits are available.

Source:

iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/state-by-state