Truck Accident Injuries: Long-Term Consequences and Claims
Accidents that involve semi-trucks, 18-wheelers, and other massive commercial vehicles often cause serious injuries, even in a minor crash.
Since trucks outsize and outweigh passenger vehicles, the potential for devastation is far greater.
The injuries you sustain in a truck accident could impact you for months, years, or even the rest of your life.
What Are the Most Common Injuries That Truck Accident Victims Incur?
Some truck accident injuries will heal in time, but many will leave behind pain and lasting effects.
Brain Injuries
In mild cases, brain injuries can cause frequent headaches and difficulty concentrating. Moderate brain injuries will have greater impacts on cognitive and behavioural changes. You may have mood swings, memory problems, or difficulty with motor skills. People who suffer moderate brain injuries may need years to recover.
In severe cases, brain injuries can lead to long-term or permanent disabilities that come with motor impairment, cognitive deficits, and changes to personality and behaviour. You may never be the same as you were before this truck accident.
Neck and Back Injuries
Strains in the neck and whiplash can leave you with chronic neck pain and impede your range of motion. Back injuries also have the potential to limit your mobility and leave you in pain. You may suffer from constant discomfort and require physical therapy or pain management on an ongoing basis.
Spinal Cord Injuries
Your spinal cord sends messages from the brain to the body. When it’s damaged, it can lead to full or partial loss of function. Depending on the point of the spinal cord that has been damaged, you may have permanent paralysis and be unable to walk again.
Internal Injuries
Internal injuries are among the most concerning since they have no exterior signs. This is why you are urged to get immediate medical treatment after an accident to ensure you do not have damaged organs or internal bleeding. Complications can easily arise that lead to organ dysfunction and chronic health issues.
Psychological Damages
Psychological injuries include emotional distress, mental anguish, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Many truck accident victims are often too afraid to get behind the wheel again and endure these psychological impacts even after their injuries have healed.
How to Seek Justice for Your Truck Accident Claim
Before you file your claim for your truck accident, you must understand the long-term impacts that it may have on your life. You will need to think about your injuries in the past, present, and future to calculate a fair amount.
Often, injury victims are excited to get a settlement offer quickly from the truck driver’s insurance company. However, this figure may not even come close to the costs you will spend on your ongoing medical care for the injuries caused by the negligent truck driver, trucking company, or other involved parties.
You must document your injuries and damages to help build a case that includes proper compensation for your long-term consequences. This can be done by getting prompt medical to create a record of your injuries.
You should also take photos and videos of the accident scene and your injuries throughout their progression. Journaling about how you feel can show how this has affected your mental health. You will want to document your pain level, how your mobility has been hindered, and how you are feeling.
Other forms of evidence will include all of your medical expenses such as physical therapy, prescription medication, surgeries, and your ambulance ride. You can also seek compensation for lost wages if you are unable to work due to these injuries.
The police report is another important piece of evidence that can detail the aftermath. When you work with a truck accident attorney, they can help you gather the evidence you need and calculate what is fair for compensation. They can also help you identify all liable parties that will be responsible for your damages.
