Chest injuries are a common outcome in the force of California car accidents, sports injuries, and falls. These serious injuries might also leave your sternum cracked and broken.
This painful injury leaves you in pain with each breath you take and even with a cough or sneeze. The sternum also helps safeguard the organs in the chest and any movement or break in the sternum can lead to serious consequences.
Victims may suffer sternum fractures in accidents caused by someone’s reckless driving or a lack of care on the part of a property owner or employer. Those victims must be ready to hold those parties fully liable for all recovery costs and secure the most out of their sternum injury claim.
Broken Sternum Risks in California Accidents
Sternum, or breastbone injuries, usually occur when the chest absorbs blunt force trauma. They can happen during an impact with a distracted driver on a California freeway. A victim may take a fall forward down a crumbling set of stairs to damage ribs, cartilage, and the breastbone.
These injuries occur when someone is physically attacked. Sternum damage is also possible when someone is giving a patient CPR and applies too much force to the chest.
These are all examples of when someone’s negligence or carelessness could be to blame. A landlord may have put off fixing an old stairwell. A driver could have been traveling too fast for conditions when they lost control and struck your car.
In each case, there’s the possibility the victim and family members can seek compensation for recovery costs and more. A skilled California Traumatic Injury Lawyer helps victims build a strong injury claim so that insurance companies can’t wiggle out of taking responsibility for the mistakes of their policyholders.
Breastbone Injury Recovery and Costs for Patients
The sternum is connected to the ribs by cartilage. It’s in the center of the chest and forms the front of the ribcage to help protect the heart, lungs, and blood vessels.
Patients with a breastbone fracture will experience extreme chest pain that becomes worse with each breath, cough, or laugh. Pain medication will be one of the few things to provide relief to patients. A broken sternum usually heals on its own and pain may be totally gone in two to four months. However, complications can extend the healing process.
As victims start to avoid coughing and take shallower breaths, fluid can build up in the lungs to create the likelihood of infection. Surgery is also an option when a crack in the breastbone doesn’t line up to heal correctly or the bone continues to move when the patient moves.
A standard sternum injury may cost patients under $1,000 for a California emergency room visit and basic treatment. An X-ray could cost anywhere from $300 to $1,000. Treatment for a sternum injury that damages the heart and lungs will easily reach over $10,000.
These enormous costs and the additional effects on everyday life for you and your family are why securing what’s fair in a sternum injury insurance settlement is so important.
Maximizing Your Sternum Injury Accident Claim
After your accident, if you feel strong enough, try to secure important evidence on the scene. This is one key to getting the most out of your sternum injury claim. There are also things you should avoid on the scene and afterward.
DO’S
- Call 911: Allow EMTs to check you out fully and go to the emergency room if they think you should. In a traffic accident, make sure the police or the California Highway Patrol responds to investigate the circumstances of your accident.
- Gather evidence: Make sure everyone is safe. Once emergency crews secure the scene, work to get photos of the accident. After a car crash, get photos of vehicle damage, lane markings, and traffic lights. After a slip-and-fall or a blow to the head, get plenty of pictures of the hazard that hurt you. Take photos of visible injuries. Allow a manager or property owner to write up an incident report. Find out how your California sternum injury lawyer can reach witnesses later.
- See your own physician. See any recommended specialists and attend all physical therapy sessions. Save receipts for your care.
DON’TS
- Don’t offer statements: Other than your report to the police, don’t discuss fault in your accident or your injuries on the scene. When insurance adjusters call you, don’t offer them recorded statements. Provide only basic information. All of these statements can be twisted to hurt your injury claim later. You may say you’re okay on the scene and a day later find out you have a fractured sternum.
- Don’t let an insurance company delay your claim: After you submit a claim, insurance adjusters like to keep you waiting until you get desperate. They’ll wait long enough to respond to your request for help to allow you to face a stack of medical bills while you miss valuable time at work. A California Traumatic Injury Lawyer knows these tactics well and immediately goes on the offensive against unhelpful insurers.
- Don’t accept insufficient offers: Don’t sign off on settlement proposals without consulting with a personal injury lawyer. Your attorney will know when an insurance company is trying to get you to accept a “lowball” offer. That settlement offer may be tempting, but it could come up far short of what you’ll need to fully pay for your medical care. Allow a California accident lawyer to fight for the maximum compensation for your sternum injury claim.
Other Ways to Get the Most Out of Your California Accident Injury Claim
California offers personal injury victims up to two years to file a claim against those at-fault for accidents and their insurance providers. However, for the benefit of your case, it’s important to turn it over to a qualified California personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. The sooner you can, the easier time your lawyer will have locating evidence and keeping track of witnesses for testimony.
You will also be working with your sternum injury lawyer to list every hardship you’ve faced in your claim. Your claim must include every medical bill that’s arrived in your mailbox. That claim should also accurately estimate the cost of care you could need in the coming years. Your travel costs getting to and from doctors’ appointments while you are unable to get around easily must also be claimed. The lost income you forfeit while unable to work factors in. Your attorney also seeks full compensation for the physical pain and emotional trauma you are forced to endure.
Contact a California Breastbone Injury Attorney
Martin Gasparian, the founder of Maison Law, offers a free case evaluation for all sternum injury victims. It’s a no-risk way to find out how to hold a negligent party fully responsible for your recovery.
You’ll find out what your injury is worth and how to make sure you get the most out of your sternum injury insurance claim. Contact Mr. Gasparian to schedule a no-obligation consultation and talk to a real California Traumatic Injury Lawyer today.
