California motorcyclists ride along the open road with very little protection in the event of a collision. An inattentive driver can miss the motorcycle alongside them or even the one directly ahead and cause a devastating crash. An accident usually leaves riders facing twice the number of impacts of other accident victims.
Motorcyclists will absorb the damage from the car collision and then experience more harm as they are sent to the hard road surface. Chest injuries, such as sternum fractures can occur and leave victims unable to move their upper bodies without pain for weeks or months. A California motorcycle accident lawyer fights for injured victims and makes sure they get the support to rebuild their lives.
Schedule a Free Consultation with a California Motorcycle Accident Attorney
When a driver’s carelessness is responsible for your sternum injury, you’ll only have one chance to secure the compensation you’ll need to recover physically and financially. You must handle your motorcycle accident injury claim correctly, or you could leave yourself without support when you require additional surgeries or physical therapy in the years ahead.
To discuss how much your sternum injury is worth and how to hold a car insurance company accountable, schedule a free consultation with a California Motorcycle Accident Broken Bone Lawyer. If you decide we can help you get the most out of a motorcycle injury claim, you won’t need any upfront money to hire Maison Law. We don’t get paid unless we win your case. Then our fee comes out of the settlement you are awarded.
Sternum Injuries for California Motorcycle Accident Victims
In an impact caused by the driver of a car, truck, or SUV, motorcyclists can land on their chest or back and suffer a sternum, also known as the breastbone, injury. The breastbone is a flat bone that runs down the center of your chest. Sternum bones are connected to the rib cage and to the collarbones. Damage to the sternum can involve these other bones to make recovery more complicated for patients.
Oxford University Hospitals reports that a breastbone injury can take up to four to six weeks to heal with some discomfort lingering for several weeks more. One of the most troubling symptoms of a sternum fracture is that patients have difficulty breathing. Each breath will move the chest wall, causing pain.
This pain can make you cough less and breathe more shallowly without realizing it. This will lead to fluids building up in your chest. Chest infections develop and further restrict the breathing of patients. The organs protected by the chest wall could also absorb damage during a sternum break.
Most sternum injuries are allowed to heal on their own with patients receiving medication to help them deal with the pain. If a sternum fracture is uneven and doesn’t line up correctly to heal, expensive Chest surgery could be the next option. Surgery is also necessary when breathing moves the sternum out of place.
With these and other complications, riders can be off their motorcycles for quite a while. They may face a pile of medical bills while also losing valuable hours at work. A California Motorcycle Accident Lawyer demands support for clients for their current hardships, but they also factor in any difficulties that may arise down the road.
Insurance Tactics to Avoid After a California Motorcycle Accident
If you damage your motorcycle and perhaps suffer a few scraps and bruises, car insurance companies usually provide what’s fair for motorcycle repair and perhaps for getting checked out by paramedics.
It’s when a broken bone or a more serious injury is involved that auto insurers begin to look for ways to reject your claim. A fractured bone will require more care than a single night in an emergency room and physical therapy may also be necessary. When the cost of care multiplies, car insurance companies should be more helpful, but that’s rarely the case.
It’s understandable that injured riders and their families would get anxious as enormous medical bills arrive in the mailbox. Sometimes insurance companies use this fear to their advantage.
These are just a few of the tactics your California motorcycle accident attorney will be shielding victims from:
- Shifting the Blame: Car insurance companies are famous for trying to blame every accident on the road on motorcyclists. They use stereotypes about reckless motorcyclists to try to help their policyholders avoid having to take responsibility for a mistake. These personal attacks are unfair and false. Your personal injury lawyer investigates your case fully and uses strong evidence to show that you are innocent and that you should receive major support.
- Delayed Response: Car insurance adjusters may also ignore you for a while. They purposely slow down the fractured sternum injury claims process. Adjusters are trained to keep you waiting while your bills pile up and your lost time at work starts to take its toll on your finances. They want to get you financially desperate enough for their next tactic.
- Lowball Settlement Offer: Once you are way behind on your monthly bills and hospital payments, insurance agents then try to float you a “lowball settlement” offer. This first offer is rarely enough to cover all of the physical, emotional, and financial damages you’ve suffered. But if you’ve been made to wait with no income source, you could be desperate enough to sign off on the deal. Once you’ve signed off on a settlement you aren’t allowed to go back to the insurance company to ask for more later. Part of your California personal injury attorney’s job will be to inspect any settlement offer you receive and help you determine if it’s fair or not. Your attorney will reject an unfair offer and demand more.
Compensation Available for Broken Sternum Motorcycle Accident Victims
Every hardship a motorcyclist endures while in recovery must be itemized and submitted to the car insurance company.
Your California Motorcycle Accident Lawyer will make sure this list is complete when it’s filed. This is critical because anything left off the list instantly becomes the financial responsibility of the victim.
These are just a few of the factors that will be used to determine the amount on your insurance settlement check:
- Totals on medical bills.
- Rehabilitation costs.
- Estimates on the costs for life with a permanent disability stemming from a chest injury.
- Travel costs to medical appointments while you are unable to drive or ride a motorcycle.
- The pain and emotional trauma you’ve suffered in recovery.
- Loss of enjoyment of life.
- Lost income and benefits while you must be away from work.
Contact a California Motorcycle Accident Injury Lawyer
After you or a loved one suffers a sternum injury due to a careless driver’s mistake, speak with a skilled, local attorney about the benefits available to you and your family. A California motorcycle broken bone injury attorney will go over your options, including the rights you have that an insurance adjuster won’t be telling you about.
Contact Maison Law of California for a free, no-obligation consultation. It’s a no-risk way to find out what your bicycle accident injury is worth and what you should demand from an insurance company.
