Motor vehicle collisions are often physically traumatizing experiences. People can break bones, damage their spinal cords or suffer a brain injury. Car crashes also cause amputations, severe lacerations and soft tissue injuries. People can experience burns, hearing loss and nerve damage, among many other medical consequences after a car wreck.
The type of vehicle involved, someone’s prior health and the speed of the vehicles involved in the crash all influence how impactful the wreck will be. Injuries from a crash often inspire not just medical expenses for emergency care but also lasting changes which may also have financial implications.
How do crash injuries affect people’s futures even after they heal?
By creating lasting physical symptoms
Severe injuries, ranging from spiral fractures to brain injuries, will forever affect an individual’s health and function. They may experience reduce strength and range of motion in an injured limb. They may endure chronic pain. If an injury will limit someone’s functional abilities, it will probably have an impact on their daily life.
By affecting employment
Sometimes, it will be the long-term medical implications of an injury that affects someone’s career. They may have to accept that they can no longer perform the same job responsibilities as before they got hurt and may ultimately need to move into a lower-paid profession. Other times, it might be the initial injury and how it takes someone away from the job that ends up harming their career. An employer should never discriminate against someone for medical reasons, but a lengthy absence followed by a period of reduced productivity when someone returns to their job could slow or ultimately end their upward progression at a company.
By creating mental health challenges
Injuries that cause lasting physical symptoms also tend to cause lasting psychological consequences. Those dealing with chronic pain, for example, have a greatly increased likelihood of depression. Those who now struggle to support their families may develop anxiety, and others could have post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms that affect their ability to work and provide for their family after a car crash.
Estimating the secondary consequences of a crash injury can be very important for those pursuing an insurance claim or a lawsuit after a wreck. Seeking legal guidance is a good place to start.