Everyone knows to expect cuts, bruises, or even broken bones in a car crash. Unfortunately, the violent motion of a vehicle collision also comes with the risk of severe physical damage that isn’t noticeable in the minutes or hours after an accident. If concussions or dangerous injuries to internal organs aren’t addressed quickly, they can lead to serious complications or even death.
Virginia Car Crash Internal Injury Guide
Internal damage to your bones and organs can occur whether you are ejected from the vehicle or remain in the driver’s seat during the collision, even if the airbags successfully deploy. Of course, internal injuries are also an extreme danger to pedestrians, bicyclists, or motorcycle drivers who are directly hit by a car, truck, or bus.
When the human body takes the brunt of the impact, a car crash victim may experience devastating and even life-threatening internal injuries that aren’t visible at a glance. In fact, external symptoms may not be apparent at the scene of the accident and frequently don’t appear until later when the adrenaline finally dies down.
That’s one critical reason why you should always visit a doctor after any car crash, even if you don’t feel particularly hurt. Possible internal injuries from a vehicle collision with a negligent driver include:
- Abdominal aorta aneurysm when the stomach area is severely compressed or crushed in an accident
- Brain bleeding and lack of oxygen to the brain
- Coup-contrecoup injuries when the brain strikes the side of the skull, or other types of closed traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Fractured ribs
- Internal bleeding
- Ligament and soft tissue tearing
- Liver, kidney, spleen, and other internal organ damage
- Punctured lungs
- Spinal cord injuries
Symptoms of internal injuries may start appearing shortly after the accident or in the days ahead. This includes abdominal pain, anemia, severe bruising, dangerous drops in blood pressure, difficulty breathing, and cognitive issues.
While death is less likely if internal injuries are caught quickly by a medical professional, victims may still face long-term repercussions that radically impact day-to-day life. Survivors could require additional surgeries in the future and also experience ongoing pain management issues, mobility difficulties, and the need for physical or vocational therapy.
Protect Your Legal Rights After a Car Accident Internal Injury
Visiting a doctor immediately after the crash isn’t just to find possible internal injuries, but also to begin the process of establishing liability for the accident. You need a paper trail showing what kind of injury you sustained and when it occurred so you can seek compensation from the at-fault party’s whose negligent behavior caused the crash.
You wouldn’t have suffered these injuries if it wasn’t for that negligence, which is why you should retain an attorney to probe the cause of the accident. Your legal counsel can analyze the available evidence to determine your best source of compensation. In some cases, that will clearly be the other driver who is at fault, but it could also be a negligent trucking company or someone else who is ultimately responsible for the injury.
An attorney additionally protects you by helping to deal with common insurance tactics for avoiding paying out a claim, or by filing a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit against the negligent party. Damages in crashes with internal injuries can be extensive and potentially include:
- Medical costs for surgeries, medications, hospital stays, at-home care, etc.
- Missed wages for time away from work while recovering from internal injuries
- Future earning potential if the internal injury interferes with your ability to earn a living
- Pain and suffering, as well as other non-economic damages for lost quality of life
- Funeral expenses in cases of wrongful death
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