Princeton Auto Accident Lawyers
Car Accident Injuries
Most of us don't climb into our cars and trucks expecting anything out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, millions of us find out we're wrong each year. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a federal agency that tracks auto accidents, about six million Americans are involved in car crashes annually. About 43,000 of these are killed, making auto accidents the leading cause of death among Americans ages four to 44. Another 2.6 million Americans are injured in motor vehicle crashes each year. While many of those injuries are minor or heal quickly, some are devastating, permanent injuries that can change the lives of victims and their families.
Of the common types of car accident injuries, traumatic brain injuries may be the most serious. A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is any injury to the brain that results from a sudden physical shock, like being hit by a flying object, hitting a hard object or being exposed to a blast wave. When that happens, the victim's brain tissue may be physically bruised or torn, or the connections between brain cells may be destroyed. Either way, because brain tissue doesn't heal like other bodily tissues, the victim loses some brain functions. In severe TBI cases, that means victims may be left with problems moving and speaking; memory loss; inability to hear or see; mental retardation; or even personality changes. They may need years of therapy to help them learn how to live independently, or even round-the-clock care.
Spinal injuries are another common and potentially serious result of a car or truck crash. The mildest and most common spinal injury is whiplash -- pain in the neck and back due to a sudden trauma that whips the head around. Much more serious are injuries to the spinal cord, the thick nerve column that runs up the back. Like the brain, the spinal cord can't heal itself, so damage to the spine results in a permanent loss of functions. Victims may be left paralyzed and without feeling below the site of the injury, on one or both sides, and may also lose bodily functions in the affected areas. Like brain injuries, spinal cord injuries leave their victims permanently disabled and in need of a lifetime of expensive medical care and household help.
Car accidents also frequently result in severe burns, especially in rollover accidents or accidents involving defective vehicles with fuel-related problems. Because gasoline is highly flammable, victims inside a car can be engulfed in flames within minutes, leaving them with third-degree burns over large parts of their bodies. The results aren't just disfiguring, although the pain and embarrassment of a disfiguring burn scar is bad enough. Severe burns can also threaten their victims' lives, because skin has important functions within the body. It forms a barrier that prevents infection and it helps the body regulate important functions like bodily temperature and amount of moisture. When burns heal, victims may also find that their movement, breathing or blood supply is restricted by inflexible scar tissue.
Finally, car crash victims also frequently sustain broken bones, along with or instead of these other injuries. Broken bones heal, but they don't always heal correctly. Sometimes, lingering pain or a disability can stay with victims for the rest of their lives. Broken bones can also cause further damage to the body parts they surround, especially when they surround vital organs like the lungs or the brain. And of course, the time it takes to heal a fracture can keep victims disabled for months. Victims may not be able to work while they heal, or may need special accommodations just to live their normal lives.
The physical, emotional and social effects of these serious auto accident injuries can be bad enough. But frequently, there's a severe financial effect as well. The cost of routine medical treatment is often too steep for working families; the cost of a serious injury or permanent disability can be devastating. The initial emergency-room treatment alone can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Months or years of therapy and treatments afterward can easily bring the total into the millions. If there's a permanent disability, costs can continue to skyrocket for the rest of the victim's life. And of course, a disabling injury can rob a breadwinner of his or her ability to work for the money to pay all of these bills. If insurance doesn't or won't cover it all, victims may find themselves scrambling just to make ends meet, or declaring bankruptcy.
If you're facing these types of problem because of a car accident injury, you have the right to hold the person who injured you legally responsible. Lependorf & Silverstein can help. Our experienced New Jersey car crash lawyers have recovered millions of dollars for clients who were seriously injured in car and truck crashes. We promise to work to get our clients the best possible compensation for their injuries -- physical, financial and personal.
If you or someone you love has suffered severe car accident injuries in New Jersey, call Lependorf & Silverstein today for a free consultation.
If you or a loved one has suffered from severe automobile accident related injuries in New Jersey, contact Lependorf & Silverstein today for a free consultation.
