Personal injury attorneys, and even insurance companies, often encounter individuals claiming to have suffered a serious injury. If someone else was negligent or somehow at fault for an accident you would probably consider a resulting injury serious.

From a legal perspective, a personal injury is one that impacts your life and ability to perform daily tasks and has lasting effects. It would be generally accepted that your injury is serious if:

• It resulted in extended hospitalization and required surgery and/or long-term rehabilitation.
• It has impacted your ability to work and hampered your level of independence.
• The injury has lasting or even permanent impacts on your ability to function.
• These lasting impacts severely impose on your quality of life.
• You cannot perform the same type of work as before.
• Death occurred during, immediately after the accident, or 30 or more days later.

Types of Personal Injuries

 

• Back Pain & Injury: Back injuries range from muscle strains to spasms, herniated disks, nerve damage, and spinal fractures requiring major surgery; back pain can be debilitating and prevent one from performing daily tasks.

• Neck Pain & Injury: Muscle and ligament strains can cause significant pain, while herniated disks in the cervical spine can be painful and require surgery. Neck injuries range from whiplash (commonly occurs in serious car accident injuries) to spinal cord damage causing complete paralysis.

• Spinal Cord Injuries: The spinal cord carries signals from the brain to the rest of the body; depending on the location of the injury, it can cause paraplegia, quadriplegia, or hemiplegia—paralysis due to spinal cord damage is usually permanent.

• Broken Bones Injuries: In a car accident or slip and fall, it’s not uncommon to break the femur, tibia, or fibula in the leg; a rib; or the hip or pelvis. Wrist, arm, back, and clavicle fractures can also occur as do skull and facial fractures.

• Head Injuries: An automobile accident or a slip and fall head injury can result in bumps and bruises up to skull fractures and severe brain damage; internal bleeding can be fatal while concussions may leave lasting effects or heal within days or weeks.

• TBI: A traumatic brain injury is typically life-altering. It may have immediate physical and psychological effects or may not manifest for days or weeks after an event; symptoms range from mild to severe cognitive and mobility issues, coma, and death.

• Wrongful Death: If a loved one dies due to another party’s negligent actions, whether in a car accident, slip and fall, or any kind of personal injury, surviving spouses, partners, and family members and dependents may be eligible for significant compensation.

• Amputations: Serious trauma can cut off or crush a limb or cause extreme blood loss or infection; amputations change one’s life and prevent them from doing things they did before. They often require a lifetime of physical therapy and counseling.

• Paralysis: Spinal cord or nerve damage can lead to paralysis, a loss of feeling and mobility, affecting the arms, legs, trunk, or entire body; paralysis has physical and emotional consequences and often requires extensive modifications to one’s environment.

• Internal Bleeding: Can have severe effects on the brain and internal organs; sometimes, it stops on its own, or is delayed hours or days, but may require life-saving invasive surgery to correct.

• Road Rash: Common in motorcycle accidents, road rash is an abrasive injury to the skin that can resemble a burn and involve the outer layer or all layers of skin; in severe cases, it can expose underlying tissue and lead to infections and scarring.

• Scars: Occur when the skin doesn’t heal properly; scars from severe injuries can be disfiguring and affect every aspect of one’s life, including self esteem and even their mobility and ability to perform basic tasks.

• Whiplash: A neck injury caused by a rapid back and forth, or side to side, motion of the head, which results in minor to debilitating pain and possible injuries to muscles, ligaments, bones, and nerves.

• Burn Injuries: Range from pain and redness to complete destruction of skin and underlying tissues, fluid loss, and infections; burn injuries may require emergency life-saving care, skin grafts, and life-long treatment.

 

Impact of Personal Injuries

It’s not uncommon for someone with a personal injury to experience:

• Restricted mobility
• Lengthy rehabilitation
• Constant medical care
• A need for supportive medical equipment
• Chronic pain
• Psychological distress
• Reduced quality of life
• Financial impacts (medical/surgery/therapy costs)
• Loss of job/career

Common Causes of Personal Injuries

Automobile accidents represent one of the most common causes of personal injuries. Distracted driving, DUIs, and failure to follow road rules contribute to this risk. Serious personal injuries may also be triggered by work accidents, medical negligence, impacts, fires, falls, drowning, and even overexertion.

The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani Can Help

Serving all of California, we are a local personal injury lawyer who can help you file a lawsuit against a negligent or at-fault party and fight on your behalf. Our team can take on insurance companies and focus on reaching a fair settlement. A financial settlement can cover your medical costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Contact us at 888-952-2952 to get started and we’ll even visit you at home or at work to determine how much your case is worth.