Car accidents are often so traumatic that victims can suffer horrifying internal injuries. Unlike facial lacerations and burns, internal injuries are impossible to see. Although you might feel pain, an emergency technician cannot immediately identify what is wrong. At Oaks Law Firm, we have helped many car accident clients seek compensation for internal injuries. Below, we highlight the most common and dangerous injuries, along with their major symptoms. Reach out to our firm to discuss whether you can maintain a claim for compensation.
Collapsed Lungs
Motorists are at risk of suffering a collapsed lung when a rib breaks, and the sharp end punctures the lung. As a result, air floods into the space between the lung and your chest wall. As the pressure builds outside the lung, it’s harder to breathe, and the lung collapses.
Symptoms include sudden shortness of breath and chest pain. If breathing is difficult following a collision, head to the doctor.
Heart Contusion
A contusion is a bruise. This might not sound like a serious injury, but any trauma to the heart can tear the muscle or even the heart valve.
Passengers wearing seat belts can suffer a heart contusion, just like an unbuckled motorist. In a collision, the belt pushes your sternum backwards, where it presses against the heart. A contusion can result. Unfortunately, serious contusions can lead to heart attack, stroke, and other fatal injuries.
Symptoms include abnormal heartbeats or rhythm, as well as shortness of breath and pain around your sternum.
Ruptured Spleen
Located in the upper left of your abdomen, the spleen plays a critical role in your immune system, producing lymphocytes and filtering blood. Any violent accident could break the spleen’s surface, which is considered a rupture, and bleeding could prove fatal.
Brain Bleed
Traumatic accidents can shake the brain, leading to bleeding when vessels rupture. Bleeding inside the skull is very dangerous. The blood can pool and build up pressure, which can then cut off blood flow to healthy parts of the brain, resulting in tissue death. Motorcyclists are particularly at risk for this injury.
There are different types of brain bleed, depending on the location:
- Epidural bleed: bleeding between the outermost layer of the membrane and the skull bone.
- Subdural bleed: bleeding between the dura mater and the arachnoid membrane.
- Subarachnoid bleed: bleeding between the arachnoid membrane and the pia mater.
- Intracerebral hemorrhage: bleeding inside the brain tissue.
- Intraventricular hemorrhage: bleeding inside the ventricles where cerebrospinal fluids are produced.
Pay attention to symptoms following an accident. Any sudden tingling or weakness in your limbs is a sign, as is a sudden, massively painful “thunderclap” headache. Please call an ambulance immediately.
We Can Fight for Compensation
These are only some of the most common internal injuries. There are too many to mention. To protect yourself, we recommend getting to the hospital after any accident, even if you feel fine. And then reach out to Oaks Law Firm to talk with one of our car accident lawyers about whether you can seek compensation for medical bills and other damages.