If you are involved in a motor vehicle accident and sustain a whiplash injury, seek medical attention right away, and find out more about how a car accident attorney can help you recover costs for your car damage, medical bills, and pain and suffering.
While the most common manifestation of a whiplash injury is neck pain, other, more serious reactions may develop. If you experience severe or permanent damage from a whiplash injury, especially if the accident was someone else's fault, your motor vehicle accident lawyer can tell you how to pursue legal action. Here are three rare reactions to a whiplash injury and how they may warrant legal action against the responsible driver:
Vision Deficits
According to Everyday Health, even minor injuries such as a whiplash neck injury can lead to visual problems. Sudden whipping injuries to the neck can result in inflammation or damage of one of your cranial nerves. One such cranial nerve that can be affected by a whiplash injury in the optic nerve.
When this nerve is damaged as a result of infection or injury, you may develop blurred vision, an increase in floater formation, the appearance of light flashes before your eyes, double vision, a detached retina, or, in rare cases, total vision loss. If, after your accident, you notice problems with your eyes, seek emergency medical attention.
If your doctor determines that your visual deficits are the result of your whiplash injury, make an appointment with a car accident lawyer, who will review your case to determine if you are eligible for a disability settlement.
Brain Bleed
Severe neck injuries can also raise your risk for a brain bleed, or cerebral hemorrhage. While many types of brain bleeds are sudden and hemorrhagic, others are known as "slow bleeds." This means that it may take weeks or even months of slow bleeding into your brain before you notice any adverse effects.
If your whiplash causes bleeding inside your brain, especially if it contributes to loss of coordination, vision loss, paralysis, speaking difficulty, or inability to swallow, you may be entitled to a substantial monetary payment. Your attorney will work with your medical doctor to review your medical records, police report, and insurance documentation when preparing a legal case against the responsible party.
Incontinence
Another rare reaction to a whiplash injury is incontinence. Because a whiplash neck injury has the potential to injure your spinal cord, you may be at risk for developing both urinary and bowel incontinence.
Certain spinal cord injuries can affect the nerves that control your bladder and colon. When these structures or nerves are damaged or inflamed as a result of an injury, urinary dribbling, incontinence, and even urinary retention can develop.
Similarly, if the nerves that affect your colon are aggravated as a result of injury, you may not notice that you need to go to the bathroom, or you may have incontinent accidents. If you become incontinent after your involvement in a motor vehicle accident, seek emergency medical attention as soon as possible.
While incontinence related to injuries often resolves once your injury has been healed, it may be long lasting or even permanent. If you have problems with incontinence, contact a car accident attorney. Incontinence, especially in young, healthy individuals, can psychologically affect a person's well-being and diminish his or her self-confidence levels. Not only might you receive monetary damages for your physical symptoms, but you might also receive compensation for emotional distress.
If you are involved in a car accident, seek emergency medical attention right away. When you are feeling better, make an appointment with a car accident lawyer at a law firm like Terrel DoRemus & Associates. He or she will work with your medical doctor to determine if your case has merit for pursuing litigation against the responsible party or the insurance company.
Share20 August 2018
When I started my first small business, I had no idea how much I really didn’t know. I was fully prepared to deal with customers, sell product and even handle complaints and returns. What I wasn’t aware of was that there is so much more to it. I was lacking the legal expertise to protect the company and myself. I wanted others to benefit from my experience, mistakes and lessons learned, so I started this blog. From employment law to the legal business contracts you’ll have to sign when you form partnerships, business law is complex. I hope that the information here will help you to be better prepared when you start your business so that you’ll know when you need to call an attorney and when you can handle things yourself.
