Dealing with Delayed Injuries After a Car Accident

Not all injuries are immediately apparent after a car accident, as some might be internal, while others may take time to emerge following the trauma and excitement of the accident. That said, it is essential to seek out immediate medical attention– then reach out to an attorney.

For help with your case, connect with a Boca Raton personal injury lawyer from The Grife Law Firm for your risk-free, cost-free initial case review, and read on to learn more about how to deal with delayed injuries after your car accident.

Common Car Accident Injuries That Have Delayed Symptoms

Being in a car accident can result in significant trauma to the human body, as moving at high speeds and then stopping suddenly due to a collision puts a huge deal of strain on the human body. The experience of being in an accident also leads to a great deal of excitement and adrenaline that may temporarily mask the symptoms of some injuries.

After you’ve been involved in a crash, seeking emergency medical care is crucial to identify and treat any immediate threats, while follow-up treatment is important to determine if there are any lingering effects from the collision.

Common car accident injuries resulting in long-term and life-altering consequences that may have delayed symptoms include:

Spinal cord injury and nerve damage
Traumatic brain injury
Neck and back injury

Spinal Cord Injuries and Nerve Damage May Take Time to Emerge and Require Careful Assessment

As noted by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a spinal cord injury or SCI is damage to the tight bundles of nerves and cells that both send and receive signals from the brain to and from the rest of the body. The spinal cord runs from the lower part of your brain down through your lower back.

Spinal cord injuries happen when there is a direct injury to the spinal cord itself or as a result of damage to the tissue and bones that surround the spinal cord known as the vertebrae. Damage to your spinal cord can lead to short-term, long-term, or even permanent changes in movement, strength, sensation, and body functions below the site of the injury. The nerves surrounding the area of the spinal cord injury may also have been damaged, negatively impacting the function and sensation of the body parts linked to those nerves.

Symptoms of a Spinal Cord Injury

Knowing when to reach out for follow-up medical care is key once you are aware of the symptoms of the injury. The most significant outcome of a spinal cord injury is partial or complete paralysis. Paralysis can affect all or part of the body, whether it be through tetraplegia or quadriplegia. A lower injury to the spinal cord can cause paralysis that impacts your legs and lower body, known as paraplegia.

A spinal cord injury can lead to one or more of the following potential symptoms, including but not limited to:

Weakness or inability to move any part of the body
Numbness, tingling, or loss of sensation in the hands or feet
Problems walking and moving
A loss of bladder and bowel control
Paralysis, which can happen right after the accident or take time to develop due to the impact of swelling and bleeding on the spinal cord
Changes in the ability to function sexually
Difficulty with breathing
Unnatural positions of the neck and head

If you have any of these symptoms, it is important to work with a skilled personal injury lawyer who can request assistance on your behalf from medical and occupational experts to determine the long-term costs of your injuries.

A TBI or Traumatic Brain Injury Can Permanently Change Your Brain Chemistry

A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, as noted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), happens when you experience a:

Bump to your head
Blow to your head
Penetrating wound to your head

The leading causes of TBIs are firearm-related suicide, assaults, and motor vehicle crashes.

Car accidents naturally lead to a great many prospective sources of TBI and can also result in permanent changes in the way in which your brain functions. This can forever change your ability to work and enjoy your life in the way you had prior to the accident.

Common symptoms of traumatic brain injury, in ascending order of seriousness, include:

Changes in thinking and behavior
Changes to the brain’s ability to function, which negatively impacts learning, self-regulation, and social participation
An increase in the level of irritableness or changes in personality
Ringing in the ears
Discharge from the ears and eyes
Difficulty maintaining consciousness

You have likely heard of a mild TBI referred to as a concussion, which can happen in a car accident, a fall, or even within the context of contact sports. Even a minor concussion can lead to permanent changes in the personality of an individual, their ability to concentrate, and their ability to function the same as prior to the accident.

Neck and Back Injuries May Forever Impact Your Ability to Move

Injuries to the neck and back from your car accident can also lead to life-long changes that result in medical costs and lost earnings — the two main sources of your compensation. Forbes notes that the average compensation for injuries to tendons and bones is $10,000-100,000, while catastrophic injuries to the back can be markedly more. To collect what you need to cover your present and future costs, a comprehensive, accurate, and effective claim is essential.

Can I File a Claim On My Own?

To collect compensation for your injuries, you need to gather evidence to prove your current and future damages and demonstrate the liability of the at-fault party. Then you will need to incorporate all that information into a claim. Unfortunately, recovering the compensation to which you may be entitled is not automatic, and the claims process cannot be avoided. You can expect the insurance company of the liable party to put up a fight and use their own attorneys and claim analysts to reduce or deny your claim altogether.

While it is possible to file your own personal injury claim for your car accident injuries, it can be difficult to do so while you are trying to recover from the injuries and adapt to your new life circumstances surrounding them. That said, the best way to receive the support you need to recover the full amount that you deserve is by working with a skilled Boca Raton personal injury lawyer.

How Much Will My Personal Injury Lawyer Cost?

This is a natural question to have and is one of the first things that we’ll go over if it is determined that your case might be a fit with our law firm. in short, you never pay a cent out of your own pocket, as your initial consultation is free and our payment comes out of a portion of the amount in earnings that we generate on your behalf. This is called a contingency fee, which means that we only get paid if we win on your case.

To support the value you receive from your initial consultation, bring as much information as you can about the accident, your injuries and related medical costs, lost work and pay stubs with you to the meeting. After we review the basic information about the accident and your injuries, we will be able to determine if we can help. From there, we’ll explain how our cost structure works, which as mentioned above is nothing from you out-of-pocket.

Connect with a Boca Raton Personal Injury Lawyer from The Grife Law Firm

If you or a loved one has been in a car accident, it is essential to seek immediate medical care. Whatever injury you may have experienced, the adrenaline and excitement of the accident may mask some of the symptoms. After receiving emergency treatment, seeking follow-up medical opinions after the accident will help to identify any other lingering injuries or symptoms that were not noticed during emergency medical treatment.

As soon as you have received emergency medical care to confirm your status after the accident, it is time to reach out to a Boca Raton personal injury lawyer at The Grife Law Firm. We will help you schedule additional follow-up appointments with medical and occupational experts to identify the extent, costs, and implications of your injuries. From there, we will incorporate this evidence into your claim, issue a demand for the compensation you deserve, and handle the entire process on your behalf from there.

To learn how The Grife Law Firm can help with your car accident injuries, give us a call at 561-998-0770, or visit our site to schedule a consultation.