Car accidents can result in many types of injuries, and broken bones are among the most devastating. While many people have broken a bone at least once in their life, the truth is that the types of fractures that result from a car accident are likely to be more complicated, more debilitating, and harder to treat than a typical fracture related to a fall or sports injury.
Broken bones are extremely painful, and they often require the use of casts or other immobilizing techniques.
Many times, including cases of compound fractures, the victim will require surgery in order to stabilize the fractured bone. Complications can include infection or the need to reset the bone once more if it does not knit together properly.
The CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm knows how to help you quantify the exact level of suffering and financial damages you have endured in order to seek the maximum compensation possible. We can also assist you in finding the right medical treatment and therapy needed to restore function as much as possible in the wake of your fracture.
Reach out to us at any time to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation when you call (404) 777-8800 or contact us online.
Why Work With an Atlanta Car Accident Broken Bone Attorney?
Choosing to work with an Atlanta car accident broken bone attorney can be your best choice after you have suffered a devastating crash injury. As your Atlanta personal injury lawyer provides representation and handles negotiations on your behalf, you can focus on recovering.
Dealing with broken bones and fractures is painful and often requires slings, casts, and even surgery in the worst cases. The human body can take weeks, if not months, to fully heal from broken bones.
To complicate matters, when a victim endures fractures in a car accident, it can take multiple doctor appointments, physical therapy sessions, and possible surgeries to make things right. After the casts are removed, the victim may still have difficulty regaining mobility, and they may end up with permanent limitations to their mobility.
A car accident broken bone lawyer knows personal injury law. Your lawyer understands how to parse medical records, how to describe common injuries in terms insurers can grasp, and how to decipher expert opinions to support your claim.
With their many years of expertise, you can expect they will be able to gather the right evidence that will support your car accident claim.
Insurance companies are known to present low-ball offers to victims who file a claim. But when you work with a lawyer who is an expert in car accidents that involve fractures, you can bet that they will be able to:
- Investigate any claims and review evidence to determine liability
- Accurately value your damages, past and future
- Negotiate settlements from the negligent party.
- Represent victims in court if a case goes to trial
Is There a Difference Between a Bone Fracture and a Break?
The medical term for a “broken bone” is a fracture. This means that while both are often talked about as two distinct injuries, they are medically the exact same thing.
When a bone is fractured, its integrity is compromised, causing jagged snaps and gaps and potentially causing additional damage to surrounding areas of the injury, like tissues and organs.
Not only is such an injury extremely painful, but it requires special forms of care to immobilize the affected region to the extent possible and encourage safe healing.
What Kinds of Injuries Commonly Happen in a Car Accident?
A collision refers to a direct impact between two or more objects, often two motor vehicles. A person can receive a blow because of the sudden stop in a crash, and the result can be broken bones because of the excessive force that is applied to them.
For example, if an airbag does not deploy in time, the driver may hit the steering wheel or dashboard, resulting in bruising, cuts, and potentially broken bones. The force of impact with an airbag or a secondary impact with the doors of the vehicle cabin can similarly lead to a fracture.
The most common bone fractures seen in a car accident are to the arms, legs, wrists, and ankles. These breaks are often paired with cuts, scrapes, swelling, and bruises.
The severity of such an injury depends on many factors, like the speed at which the collision happened, where in the car one was sitting, and whether a seat belt was worn during the accident. Each car accident will have unique nuances that will lead to different injury patterns.
While no single accident will have the exact same circumstances, the injuries sustained by those involved tend to be one or a combination of the following:
- Lacerations
- Broken bones
- Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs)
- Spinal cord injuries
- Eye damage
- Bruising
- Sprains
- Muscle strains and tears
- Psychological traumas
Roadway Accident Injuries Can Lead to Death
Car accidents can be extremely dangerous. In fact, Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) are the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 15-29. In instances where the car damage is catastrophic, it is not surprising that the victims involved face serious and life-threatening injuries.
Common Fractures Seen in Car Accidents
Since there is excessive force applied to the human body during an accident, there are multiple types of fractures that one can experience in a wreck. Most commonly, victims tend to experience the following types of fractures outlined below.
Wrist Fractures
Whether you are holding the steering wheel or bracing yourself for impact, the force that is applied to your wrists can cause a break. The wrist is made up of eight fragile bones that can easily break when there is an excessive amount of pressure applied to the area.
Fortunately, just as they are fragile and break easily, they are also one of the fastest-healing fractures a victim can experience.
Clavicle Fractures
The clavicle — also referred to as the collarbone — is susceptible to breaking in a car accident because of seatbelts and forward impacts. People vary in different heights, and in many cases, the clavicle will be close, if not directly, under the seat belt that goes over their shoulder.
When there is a direct impact, the car comes to a sudden stop, to which the victim is launched forward and restrained to their seat by the seat belt. This adds a significant amount of force to the clavicle, in some cases leading to a fracture.
Unfortunately, options for stabilizing a clavicle fracture are limited, meaning the victim will have to immobilize other parts of the body while enduring pain and a protracted recovery relative to the slim size of the clavicle bone.
Arm Fractures
Usually, when someone is driving, their hands are on the steering wheel, but there are some cases, like if the victim is hit on the driver’s side, where an arm can be caught in an odd position and be broken on impact. Breaks in the forearms are particularly common and can happen from victims bracing themselves or holding the steering wheel.
Femur Fracture
The femur is the long bone in your thigh and the strongest, thickest bone in the human body. However, despite its fortitude, it is commonly broken in serious car wrecks because of how the car receives damage, leading to quickly restricted space within the cabin or if a person braces themselves for impact.
Unlike many other bones in the body, the femur takes much longer to heal. In cases where the break is more severe, it may require surgery and physical therapy sessions before the victim can completely heal.
Patients may risk infection or complications resulting from the bone’s limited capacity to produce pathogen-fighting white blood cells. Fever, fatigue, extreme pain, and even nausea are common effects that can be felt throughout the healing process.
Pelvic Fractures
You can imagine the force of a collision affecting a person quickly from one side of their body to another. As the first parts of their bodies take the initial impact, the applied force can translate to their core and pelvis.
Although these injuries are not as common as others, they require a lot of time, bed rest, physical therapy, and possibly crutches to fully heal. Victims may also suffer from permanent changes to gait, impairment to overall mobility, or a higher risk of re-injuring the pelvic region.
Skull Fractures
When a car suddenly stops, the people inside it are launched forward. While an airbag deployment can help reduce the chances of more serious injury and death, the person can still experience fractures and other injuries to their face and skull.
These kinds of injuries are most commonly seen in passengers and drivers who are not wearing their seatbelts and hit the windshield or are completely ejected from their vehicle.
The skull is responsible for protecting the brain from damage, but when there is a fracture and a hard blow to the head, the person may suffer a Traumatic Brain Injury that will accompany their skull fracture. These injuries can take a long time to heal and can easily come with additional medical complications that slow the healing process.
Spinal Fractures
Spinal fractures are some of the worst outcomes that can result from a collision. Accidents with extreme impact forces can cause parts of the vehicle to intrude into the cabin, leading to trauma.
The victim may also strike the cabin in a forward or side motion. Microfractures may even be possible in cases of severe whiplash or lumbar injury. Serious spinal fractures are likely to lead to temporary or permanent paralysis and, sometimes, death soon after the collision.
What Are Some Common Injury Patterns
A study on motor vehicle collisions in the National Library of Medicine states that one kind of injury is seen more than another when a particular type of collision occurs.
- Head-on and side collisions lead to injuries resulting from a direct impact on the dashboard and steering wheel. When these result in fractures, victims face injuries to their face, head, clavicle, wrists, ribs, and arms.
- T-bone accidents are associated with a multitude of injuries, especially to the passenger closest to the point of impact. More often, they face fractures that are to the pelvis, neck, clavicle, and head.
- Rear-end impacts cause victims to be jolted forward in a sudden movement when another car hits them from the back. In these cases, common injuries are to the neck, including fractures to spinal discs.
Generally, victims who are involved in an accident tend to face more injuries if they are closest to the point of impact. Additionally, the older the victim is, the more likely they are to endure more serious injuries, including breaking their ribs, regardless of the kind of car accident they were in.
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Manufacturer Negligence Can Cause Accidents
While there are laws and regulations that vehicle manufacturers must abide by in the U.S., it does not mean that getting hurt is impossible.
Accidents can happen. Fortunately, as time goes on, new and improved vehicle safety features will be implemented as they are developed.
As part of personal injury, when a company releases a negligent car part or product that leads to an accident or that makes injuries worse in an accident than they would have been otherwise, they are likely liable for any damages associated with the accident.
Common examples include manufacturers of defective seats, seatbelts, airbags, and vehicle structural components.
Find Help from an Atlanta Car Accident Broken Bone Law Firm
Battling injuries and healing from broken bones after a car accident is hard enough. To make an already bad situation worse, dealing with a negligent party means handling negotiations with insurance companies, fighting low-ball offers, and potentially even going to court.
Let yourself be supported by your legal team as you navigate this process. When you work with the right team, all investigations, negotiations with insurance companies, preparations of medical documentation, and other aspects are handled for you.
The legal team at the Atlanta CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm is here to review your case and provide a free and no-obligation consultation. Call (404) 777-8800 or contact us online to schedule a free case review today.
