Truck collisions are known for causing severe injuries. Learn about the common injuries and treatments for a Florida truck accident and how an Orlando truck accident lawyer can help.
Truck crashes are pretty common across the country, including in Florida. These accidents result in several types of injuries, both mild and severe. However, trucking accidents are more likely to be severe than mild due to the weight of an average truck, especially when a passenger car may be involved. If you have sustained injuries in a Florida truck accident, a trucking accident attorney may be able to help you recover compensation.
However, treatment must come first. When truck crashes occur, there are many types of injuries one can expect to see. But some injuries have a higher chance of occurring than others. Therefore, if you or your loved one is involved in a trucking accident in Florida, you will need to know the medical treatment you can get.
This article will examine the most common truck accident injuries in Florida. We will also discover their different treatment approaches and recovery processes.
Let's see what injuries truck accident victims are most likely to sustain after a crash.
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) occur after a violent blow to the head. For example, when a truck crashes into another truck or a car, there is a high risk of multiple impacts to the head, especially for the car occupants. These blows may affect the brain directly through a crack in the skull or indirectly without any skull damage.
Traumatic brain injuries can result in some very severe complications. These complications include:
TBIs may also result in intellectual, emotional, and behavioral challenges such as memory and judgment impairment, depression, anxiety, and lack of self-control.
If you or your loved ones sustain blows to the head during a truck crash, alert your doctor as soon as possible. Health practitioners can detect TBIs through scans and brain pressure monitoring. If your TBI is mild, your doctor will most likely recommend a long and usually supervised rest.
For severe TBIs, physicians will call for swift emergency care. This kind of care involves ensuring there is no obstruction to your brain's oxygen and blood supply. Doctors may also use anti-seizure and coma-inducing medications.
Many severe TBIs require a surgical operation to treat. During surgery, medical practitioners will repair broken skulls, stop internal bleeding, and remove blood clots. In addition, TBI victims go through several kinds of rehabilitation procedures, which involve a psychiatrist, therapist, psychologist, and counselors.
Spinal cord injuries involve any damage to the spinal cord, which may either be complete or incomplete. Complete spinal cord injuries involve damage to all parts of the spinal cord, while part of the spinal cord continues to function for incomplete spinal cord injuries. Spinal cord injuries are closely related to back and neck injuries.
For spinal cord injuries to occur, the vertebrae that house the spinal cord must suffer damage. One major cause of this damage in a truck crash is the force of impact, especially in a rear-end collision.
If you have been involved in a Florida truck accident, there are ways to know if you may have suffered spinal cord injuries. For example, you may notice breathing difficulty, loss of sensation in parts of the body, difficulty in balance and walking, twisting of the back or neck, or back and neck pains.
Medical professionals can diagnose spinal cord injury through MRI, CT scans, and X-rays. Treatment procedures include surgery and medications, while rehabilitation requires the input of therapists and psychologists.
A truck crash could cause damage to the soft tissues of the body, such as the muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Many soft tissue injuries that could result from a truck collision are:
Broken bones are pretty commonplace in truck crashes. Kids are especially susceptible to this kind of injury. When a truck accident involves a lot of force, the bones cave in and suffer fractures. After the accident, bones may pierce the skin, suffer a complete break, or break into multiple fragments.
If your doctor has diagnosed you with a broken or fractured bone after a truck crash, they will recommend different treatments. These treatments include immobilizing the affected part so the bones naturally reconnect or surgical operations, which may involve inserting a rod to strengthen and align the bones.
Whiplash, one of the prevalent truck accident injuries, is caused by a rapid back and forth movement of the neck during an accident. Most truck-related whiplash injuries occur due to rear-end collisions.
Whiplash could be mild to moderate or severe, causing varying degrees of neck pain, chronic headaches, loss of neck motion range, and neck stiffness. Mild whiplashes will heal independently, while severe whiplashes may require chiropractic care.
Burns are categories of skin damage that may result from a truck crash. When the skin is in contact with the hot parts of the vehicle, burns may occur. Burns may also arise from the skin's contact with fire during the collision.
There are several categories of burns:
If you suffer any degree of burns in a Florida truck accident, seek treatment immediately.
Truck crashes could result in instant amputation of several body parts, such as limbs. Amputation can also happen during surgery, with the surgeon removing all the dead or diseased tissues. Victims could also experience permanent disfigurement of different body parts.
These are serious, life-changing injuries. In cases like this, an Orlando truck accident lawyer can help you recover compensation for things like loss of enjoyment of life, loss of future earning capacity, mental anguish, etc., depending on the severity of your situation.
Internal injuries can cause penetrating trauma. It results from a foreign object piercing the skin. Other internal injuries are damage to the organs, ruptured spleen, and injury to the ribs and torso. Treatment may include surgery to repair damaged organs.
After receiving medical care, the next action you should take is to find a lawyer. Regardless of the severity of your injury, if someone else's negligence caused the accident, it is essential that you get what you deserve in fair compensation.
When a Florida truck accident lawyer takes up your case, they first investigate to uncover the facts of the collision. Your personal injury attorney will be looking to find out:
Florida uses a no-fault system for motor vehicle accidents. Under Florida's no-fault rule, drivers should have Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance. This insurance allows drivers receive financial compensation for truck accident damages whether they are responsible for the crash or not.
Your PIP insurance covers economic damages such as medical bills. However, if you suffer catastrophic injuries that result in disability, disfigurement, or loss of limb, your Orlando, Florida truck accident lawyer can help you file a compensation claim. Here, you will be able to recover both economic and non-economic damages.
After obtaining legal representation in a reputable law firm, your lawyer should conduct an investigation into the crash and gather relevant documents. Your lawyer will determine if you have a case and weigh your legal options.
If you have a good case, your lawyer will contact the responsible party and their insurance company to tender your compensation claim. For example, if you were hit by a truck, your lawyer will contact the trucking company's insurance carrier.
An experienced Orlando truck accident lawyer can obtain satisfactory compensation from the at-fault party's insurance company after negotiations. If not, your legal team will pursue maximum compensation by filing a personal injury lawsuit.
Also, you should look out for experienced truck accident attorneys who will handle your case on a contingency fee basis. That is, take on your case without initial payment, where you only pay if they successfully recover a settlement on your behalf.
To ensure victory, your lawyer should be experienced, knowledgeable, and aggressive when pursuing your compensation. Your choice of attorney makes a difference in your chances of recovering adequate compensation.
At VG Law, we have handled scores of personal injury cases and recovered hundreds of thousands in compensation for injured victims.
Contact our Florida law office now to speak to a member of our experienced team. We will discuss your accident claim and assign a result-driven Orlando truck accident lawyer to you.
