“What’s next?”
This question defines the uncertainty you may feel after experiencing a personal injury.
What’s next for my:
- Family?
- Physical well-being?
- Career?
- Financial status?
- Social life?
Unfortunately, an injury can reduce your quality of life for long periods. Severe injuries can derail your physical, mental, emotional and financial well-being for months, if not years.
Auto accidents are one of the most common causes of personal injury. One study found that car accidents affected some respondents’ quality of life and ability to work two years after the collision.
“What’s next?” shouldn’t be a question you have to answer alone.
If you’ve suffered long-term injuries due to someone else’s negligence, start a chat with us in the lower right corner or visit our contact page to see how the legal professionals at Eng & Woods Attorneys at Law can help you.
Want more info? Keep reading to learn more about long-term injuries and how an experienced personal injury lawyer can help you get proper compensation.
What Are Long-Term Injuries?
An injury that requires extensive medical treatment or care after the accident is considered a long-term injury. Some may see full recovery after a long-term injury, but many experience permanent effects from the damage to their bodies.
Long-Term Injury Examples
Any injury can have residual effects. However, here are two common categories of damages that could affect you long after the accident occurs.
Scarring and Facial Disfigurement
While open wounds heal, scar tissue differs in texture and quality from normal skin. When someone scars, they may deal with pain and sensitivity that affects them long after the injury.
Scar tissue lacks the same flexibility as skin. If someone scars around a joint, their movement may be limited or cause pain.
In addition to physical pain, visible scarring and facial disfigurement can cause emotional distress. If you have visible scars, you may feel that you’ve experienced adverse effects on your social and work life.
Musculoskeletal Injuries
Musculoskeletal pain is a common symptom of personal injuries. Whether you experience a slip-and-fall or a car accident, trauma from the blow to your body can have lasting effects.
Lasting aching, stiffness and fatigue are just a few symptoms that you see from a musculoskeletal injury. Once the bone, joint or muscle heals, these residual effects can impact your ability to function normally.
Nerve damage is another result of musculoskeletal injury. Your nervous system is delicately fine-tuned to send messages throughout your body. Trauma from a negligent accident can damage nerves in the affected area, resulting in lasting pain or loss of function.
Are My Future Medical Needs Considered When Settling My Case?
It can be challenging to determine when you have completed your medical care with a long-term injury. You don’t want to settle your case too soon as you and your doctors may not fully realize the extent of your injuries for some time after the accident.
However, you may have ongoing medical needs that can last for years after your injury. The balance is in:
- Determining when the bulk of your treatment has been completed
- Your medical prognosis is clear enough that a doctor can predict with reasonable medical certainty the treatment you will continue to need in the future
This often occurs when you have reached a plateau in your treatment and your doctor determines your injury has improved as much as possible with generally accepted medical treatment.
You want to receive all the treatment that your doctor recommends not only for your personal health, but also so your lawyer can better understand the financial situation for your current and future medical bills.
Once you reach this plateau, a healthcare professional can project the care you will need in the future and that information can be included in any demand upon the negligent party’s insurance company.
How Am I Compensated For My Long-Term Injuries?
Insurance companies will typically issue one payment to resolve all aspects of your claim. This means you have one chance to obtain full compensation for your past, present and future medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering and other damages.
The key is to provide overwhelming documentation and evidence of these damages to the insurance company so they have no choice but to fairly compensate you for your injuries.
Medical opinions regarding future care and the costs of that care, and evidence of future loss of wages, are as important as evidence of damages you have suffered up to that time. Your attorney should take all of these issues into consideration when determining a fair value for your claim.
Contact Eng & Woods Attorneys at Law today if you’ve been injured due to someone else’s negligence. We will fight to get you the compensation you need to recover.
Want to get to know us? Visit our team page to see an overview of our experienced and dedicated legal staff.
