Catastrophic Injuries After a Car Accident

Any injury caused by a car accident is significant and most often painful. However, some are more serious than others. When injuries sustained from a car wreck are termed ‘catastrophic,’ it has life-changing and long-term effects on the body.

Types of Catastrophic Injuries

Catastrophic injuries commonly require surgery or other forms of treatment. Most catastrophic traumas occur in large truck crashes, serious vehicular collisions, brain injury cases, amputations, and paralysis. These injuries involve:

• Lifelong disability
• Incapacity to work full-time
• Need for permanent accommodations
• The requirement of a prosthetic or assistive device such as walkers, canes, and wheelchairs
• Bodily disfigurement
• Spinal cord injuries
• Brain trauma
• Amputation
• Acquired blindness or deafness
• Severe burns or lacerations
• Paralysis

Of these injuries, some should be highlighted because of their severity.

Brain Injury

There is no set payment allocated to those suffering from brain-related injuries because each one is unique and has different lengths of lasting effects for each victim. There are many factors involved to determine the compensation that you could get.

What Can You Recover from Head Injuries

The individual amount of compensation awarded differs case by case, but many common damages are available:

• Medical costs
• Wages lost
• Lost earning potential
• Various expenses such as childcare, yard work, or home renovations to adapt to your disability
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional trauma
• Loss of consortium
• Funeral or burial costs in the event the victim lost their life.

Spinal Cord Damage

Injuries to any area of the spine or nerves at the end of the spinal canal often cause lifelong changes in strength, senses, and other functions of the body from the location of the injury. The ability to control areas of your body after the damage occurs depends on injury location and severity on the spinal cord.

The severity is commonly referred to as ‘completeness,’ and it is described as complete if all of your sensory feeling and ability to control movement are gone. If you still have some motor skills and sensory functions, then the injury is called ‘incomplete.’

Emergency Signs and Symptoms

A healthcare professional should perform tests, but signs of severe spinal cord injury include:

• Loss of movement capabilities
• Loss of sensations
• Intense stinging feelings caused by damage to the nerves in your spinal column
• Trouble breathing

Severed Limbs

The loss of an arm or leg is not as common as other injuries in car collisions, but it creates a permanent disability for the survivor when this disfigurement happens. In addition, traumatic amputations that occur due to car accidents can become easily complex because of the large amount of bleeding that commonly takes place in this type of injury. This could lead to infection or bodily shock, which is life-threatening in some cases. In some cases, limbs can be reattached to the body through surgery, but most of the time, the victim will do best by living with a prosthetic limb.

Severe Bone Fractures

Bones break due to the vast amount of force thrust upon it, and this force is more than the bone can withstand. In car wrecks, breaks typically occur from:

• Being thrown side to side or front to back in the vehicle
• Being tossed out of the car
• Compression from impact
• Being hit by an external object
• Hitting a hard surface in the car with too much blunt force
• The unnatural bending of your limbs during the wreck

The average healing timeline is anywhere from six to eight weeks for less severe cases. However, your doctor may prescribe physical therapy for more severe fractures to help you regain your strength and body functions as quickly as possible.

Involved in a Wreck that Caused Severe Injuries? We are Here For You.

If you are suffering from injuries because of a wreck, the last thing you should be dealing with is negotiating with insurance companies. So instead, let us help you so you can recover to the best of your abilities. We will be right behind you as you juggle all the costs involved.

Ready to schedule your free consultation? Contact Skousen, Gulbrandsen & Patience, PLC today at (480) 833-8800.