After the crash: catastrophic injuries

On Behalf of Holmes & Wiseley, P.C.

We’ve all heard the news stories. There’s a major crash on I-96 with two people killed and three sent to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Imagine for a moment one of those injured people is a family member. It’s devastating to think about. A spinal cord injury may keep them from ever walking again—through no fault of their own. There’s a long road to recovery ahead after enduring multiple surgeries and hospital stays. There will be no shortage of medical bills.

14-year-old Kieran W. was on her way to a soccer tournament when a semi-truck broadsided her family’s station wagon. Kieran was critically injured, including head trauma, fractured pelvis, lacerated spleen and a punctured lung. Kieran woke up from her coma with left-sided paralysis. She spent the next few months in rehab learning how to redo the basics like eating, walking and talking before being released home in a wheelchair. Kieran had a traumatic brain injury.

After the accident

When there are catastrophic injuries—like a traumatic brain injury—from an accident, life becomes a whirlwind of hospital stays, police reports, insurance company agents and claims, medical bills, rehab and recovery. After the accident, most people do not know what to do next. Personal injury attorneys can help their clients pursue financial compensation for lost income, medical expenses, pain and suffering, and other losses and damages.

This compensation is necessary because symptoms of brain injury can stay with the victim for the rest of their life. Of the patients hospitalized for a brain injury, almost half had a brain injury -related disability a year after the injury. Some of the short-term and long-term issues resulting from brain injury include:

• Cognitive function: memory and attention
• Motor function: weakness of extremities, impaired coordination and balance
• Sensation: hearing and vision changes, impaired perception and touch
• Emotion: anxiety and depression, aggression, lack of impulse control and personality changes

What your personal injury attorney can do for you

In many instances, the insurance company could dispute your claim and then look to reduce the amount of compensation or deny it altogether. Your personal injury attorney can be an advocate to help you with the giant insurance company’s team of lawyers. Your attorney will:

• Help guide you through the maze. Your attorney can help navigate the way through the complexities of insurance companies’ claims, police reports, medical bills and treatments.
• Build your case. Your attorney will gather evidence, examine the police report and their evidence, interview witnesses, study the relevant law, listen to you and keep you informed.
• Negotiate. Many accident cases settle before they go to court. Your lawyer will make sure you are fairly compensated if this happens.
• Represent you at trial. If the case goes to court, your attorney will challenge the insurance company’s evidence, present your case and fight for you.

When the catastrophic happens, your personal injury attorney is there to work with you to help manage medical treatments as well as handle all the legal and financial aspects of your case. You deserve nothing less.

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