Can a car crash cause catastrophic injuries?

Unfortunately, the answer to the title question is yes. A car crash can indeed leave you with catastrophic injuries. While most crashes result in such painful but less serious injuries as broken bones, lacerations, bruises or whiplash, nevertheless it is not uncommon for a car crash to cause considerably more damage to your body.

An article in The Lawyer’s Monthly counsels that a catastrophic injury is one that has lasting consequences. In other words, you never fully recover from a catastrophic injury. It changes your life forever.

Catastrophic injury examples

The most common catastrophic injuries caused by car crashes include the following:

• Severe burns, especially to your face, resulting in lasting disfiguring scars
• Traumatic brain injuries resulting in irreversible brain damage
• Crush injuries resulting in the amputation of one or more of your arms or legs
• Eye injuries resulting in a severe loss of vision or total blindness
• Spinal cord injuries resulting in paraplegia or quadriplegia
• Ear injuries resulting in severe loss of hearing or total deafness

Lasting consequences

As you might expect, the medical and other costs associated with a catastrophic injury can be almost as catastrophic as the injury itself. You likely will require weeks or months of hospital treatment, possibly followed by weeks, months or even years of physical therapy and other rehabilitation. Even then, your working days may be overdue to your partial or total disability.

It goes without saying that a catastrophic injury can also take a severe toll on your emotional and mental health. Not only will you undoubtedly experience physical pain and suffering, but also the mental and emotional agony of losing your ability to pursue your life as you lived it prior to your accident.