Internal injuries are among the most dangerous of all car accident injuries. If you sustain this type of injury in a car collision and you don’t seek immediate medical treatment, you could suffer from serious complications. Internal injuries can be fatal if untreated. If the car or truck accident and your internal injuries were caused by the negligence of another driver, you could be entitled to compensation for your injuries, medical bills, lost wages, and any emotional pain and suffering related to the collision. Flora Templeton Stuart Accident Injury Lawyers can help ensure you receive this compensation.
What Are The Symptoms of Internal Injuries Caused by Car Accidents?
The better your understanding of the potential symptoms of internal car accident injuries, the more effectively you can monitor for any indicators of this type of injury.
- Bruising: If not spot patches of dark purple skin on your body after a car crash, this suggests that you have started bleeding into your skin and soft tissues. This bruising is more serious than a regular bruise.
- Nausea: Blood loss after a car accident often triggers dizziness and nausea. Sometimes, accident victims will vomit after sustaining internal injuries. Any sign of vomiting after a car crash, especially if you notice any blood in the vomit, requires immediate medical attention.
- Pain: Any high-impact car accident can injure the organs in the chest and abdomen. These injuries can lead to serious health complications. Even if you feel just a mild tenderness in the abdomen or mild chest pain, you should seek prompt medical attention. The symptoms of some internal injuries can initially seem minor before worsening over time.
- Shock: Losing lots of blood in a short period – commonplace among victims of serious car accidents – can cause your body to go into shock. Symptoms include weakness, lethargy, rapid heart rate, and lightheadedness.
- Loss of Consciousness: You are unconscious after the accident.
What Are The Most Common Internal Injuries from Car Accidents?
These are the most frequently reported internal injuries caused by car collisions:
- Organ injury
- Brain bleeds
- Ruptured spleen
- Broken ribs
- Internal bleeding
- Brain injury with bleeding
- Abdominal aorta aneurysm
- Pneumothorax
Organ injury
You could damage any internal organ if you are involved in an auto accident, especially in high-impact accidents.
This type of internal injury causes internal bleeding. In some cases, functioning of the affected organ may be impaired.
The most common injuries of this type of accident victims sustain are kidney damage and liver lacerations. Both need prompt treatment to prevent fatal internal bleeding or lasting damage.
Brain bleeds
Head wounds in car crashes, whether open or closed wounds, can trigger brain bleeds. If this stops oxygen from reaching some areas of the brain, you could experience brain damage, possibly permanent in nature.
Ruptured spleen
A ruptured spleen often causes severe internal bleeding and usually requires corrective surgery.
Broken ribs
A car crash impact can cause victims to experience fractured ribs. These fractured or broken bones can easily impact other areas of the body, damaging blood vessels and organs.
Internal bleeding
Sometimes, car accidents can trigger trauma to blood vessels in the body, stopping them from effectively clotting and repairing themselves. This can result in internal bleeding. Look out for any of the following symptoms:
- Pale complexion
- Lightheadedness
- Cold feeling
- Abdominal pain
- Fatigue
- Thirst
Abdominal aorta aneurysm
Some victims find their stomach becomes compressed during a car collision. If this occurs, the ensuing ruptured abdominal aorta is a potentially fatal injury known as an abdominal aorta aneurysm. This internal injury is typically fatal.
Pneumothorax
If a rub punctures a victim’s lung during a car accident, the lung can deflate then collapse. As this occurs, air is released into the chest, a condition known as pneumothorax. Pneumothorax often arises as a complication from fractured or broken ribs.
TBI (traumatic brain injury: Both open and closed head wounds can cause brain bleeds, preventing oxygen from reaching certain areas of the brain. These injuries can also trigger permanent brain damage due to the excessive pressure placed on the brain, causing subdural hematomas to form.
What Causes Internal Bleeding After a Car Accident?
The most common causes of internal bleeding after car accidents are as follows:
- Decelerating trauma: Decelerating trauma occurs when the organs in the body continue moving forward – even through the spine – muscles and other organs abruptly stop. Your body will not always accelerate and decelerate as one object, with organs like the heart, brain, and lungs at risk from decelerating trauma in a car crash.
- Blunt trauma: Blunt trauma occurs when body parts colliding with foreign objects, typically at high speed. This causes tearing or crushing to the blood vessels, whether by a blunt object or by sheer force.
- Penetrating trauma: If a car accident victim experiences a deep puncture wound or a laceration, this can lead to organ perforation and internal bleeding being overlooked by emergency responders at the accident scene.
In most cases of penetrating trauma or blunt trauma, there are clear and pressing reasons for car accident victims to seek medical assessment and treatment.
Internal injuries triggered by decelerating trauma, though, can take time for symptoms to present. Sometimes, symptoms do not manifest for weeks or even months after the accident. In this sense, decelerating trauma is the most deadly cause of internal injuries in car accidents.
What Compensation Could You Receive for Internal Injuries from a Car Wreck?
If you suffer internal injuries in a car accident, you should be entitled to compensation for the following:
- All past and future medical costs.
- Lost wages, both past and future.
- Emotional distress damages.
- Pain and suffering compensation.
- Loss of companionship
