Long-Term Effects of Personal Injuries: Can You Seek Additional Compensation?

While many injuries, like simple fractures, heal with appropriate treatment, there are many other injuries that never fully heal. Some injuries are so catastrophic that victims can never work again and must rely on help from others on a daily basis. Other injuries may develop complications as victims age or engage in social and work activities.

There are no do-overs in personal injury cases. If you reach a settlement, you cannot ask for more money if the cost of medical care is more than you thought, the pain is worse than you thought, or complications arise that you didn’t anticipate or didn’t think would occur. You only get one jury trial, too. Once the jury makes its decision and you accept their verdict, you cannot seek additional compensation.

Given the risk of complications and the possibility that you may not have fully considered your health dangers, you should never settle a personal injury case on your own. You should work with experienced Washington, DC personal injury lawyers who have a strong record of successful verdicts and settlements.

What types of injuries can last long-term?

Any type of injury that never fully heals causes long-term pain. Some of the most serious long-term injuries our personal injury lawyers handle include:

• Traumatic brain injuries. These injuries affect a victim physically, emotionally, and cognitively. Some of the long-term consequences include communication challenges, difficulty multi-tasking and problem-solving, behavioral changes, sensory difficulties (vision, hearing, and other senses), and the possibility of degenerative brain disorders.
• Spinal cord injuries. These injuries can cause partial or complete paralysis, herniated disks, and other injuries. SCI injuries can also cause mobility problems, loss of bladder and bowel control, bedsores, circulatory disorders, respiratory disorders, an increased risk of osteoporosis and fractures, pain, and other long-term complications.
• Broken bones. When car accidents, product defects, and other accidents cause compound, complex, and other fractures that don’t fully heal (even with surgery and rehabilitation), victims may lose the ability to walk, lift, work, and perform daily functions. Sleeping may be difficult.
• Chronic back and neck pain. Many accident victims live with pain that never fully goes away. Victims with chronic pain often require a lifetime of visits with pain management doctors, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and other healthcare providers.
• Permanent scars and disfigurement. These injuries, especially if they’re on a visible part of your anatomy, such as your face or arms, can cause a loss of self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and many other psychological injuries in addition to any lasting physical pain. Burn injuries are a common type of disfigurement injury.
• Medical malpractice disorders. Birth injuries can cause cerebral palsy, a debilitating disease that permanently affects a child’s movements, and other birth injuries (like brachial plexus injuries and HIE) that affect a child for their entire lifetime. The failure to diagnose certain diseases may prevent the patient from receiving a cure, which can mean the patient has to cope with the disease for the rest of their life. Tragically, one complication that medical malpractice may cause is that the patient may die earlier than they would have with proper care.

The physical trauma from long-term injuries may include difficulty sleeping, itching, agonizing pain, the inability to use certain body parts, loss of enjoyment of life’s pleasures, the inability to enjoy marital relations (called loss of consortium), the inability to work, and many other types of pain. Some injuries may seem fine one day and then turn extremely painful the next.

Most accident and negligence victims who have long-term injuries often require mental health counseling with psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health professionals. Living with long-term pain can cause anxiety, depression, and constant trauma. Long-term personal injury victims may also develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and have difficulty developing and keeping relationships.

How do your personal injury lawyers anticipate an accident victim’s long-term needs?

At Nace Law Group, we work with doctors and life planners to understand the full scope and severity of your injuries.

We work with medical professionals who understand all the medical and life challenges that victims face for each type of injury or disease. Our personal injury lawyers work with neurosurgeons, neurologists, cardiologists, orthopedists, pain management doctors, obstetricians, pediatricians, general surgeons, plastic surgeons, psychiatrists, psychologists, rehabilitative professionals, and other doctors who have experience diagnosing, treating, and being advocates for patients with long-term injuries or diseases.

These doctors review your disorders, your current health status, your age, and the full range of risk factors to determine your lifetime medical care needs. These needs include medical treatments and care for all the ways your injuries are affecting every part of your life.

We also work with life planners who understand the types of additional services that accident victims and medical malpractice victims need such as changes to living quarters, assistive devices and technology, and the amount you need when you settle your claim or obtain a jury verdict – to cover all of your medical expenses and all your daily living needs.

Our team can also work with your employers and financial experts to assess all your economic losses because you can never work again or won’t be able to return to the pay level and work level you had before the accident or negligence.

How do your lawyers negotiate settlements and persuade juries in long-term personal injury cases?

We prepare formal demand letters that detail all your financial and personal damages to date and all the damages you are reasonably likely to incur for the rest of your life. Our lawyers work with your doctors, life planners, and financial experts to prepare detailed reports itemizing all your damages. We have these professionals testify in court if your case does not settle.

We also negotiate structured settlements for patients who have long-term injuries. These settlements generally place all or a part of the settlement proceeds in trust so the medical bills can be paid for the rest of a victim’s lifetime and so the victim can also receive funds, periodically or when needed, to enjoy life to the maximum extent possible.

At Nace Law Group, we represent clients who have catastrophic, permanent, chronic, and serious injuries. We work with a range of medical and financial experts to help you. Please call us or fill out our contact form to schedule a free consultation. We have offices in Washington, DC and West Virginia.