The sheer impact of your car collision may have left you seriously injured. And after your initial treatment in the emergency room and further follow-up appointments with your primary physician, you may receive the devastating diagnosis that you are permanently disabled. Understandably, this may be a hopeless feeling for you. But you can still execute your right to sue the responsible party. Follow along to find out what to do if you get a permanent disability and how a proficient Panama City car accident attorney at Manuel & Thompson, PA can help make your situation a little bit more manageable.
What constitutes a permanent disability?
By definition, a permanent disability is one in which a part of your body is limited in motion or function. Further, this limitation must be to the extent that modern medicine cannot repair it and cannot improve on its own. Therefore, it may be a limitation an individual suffers from for the foreseeable future.
How might I get permanently disabled after a car accident?
Catastrophic injuries to the head, neck, and back may leave you permanently disabled in the aftermath of your car accident. Example scenarios, which you may possibly relate to, are as follows:
- You may hit your head against the steering wheel, dashboard, window, or airbag upon impact and incur a debilitating traumatic brain injury.
- You may whip your neck back and forth upon impact and slip a neck bone out of place, causing a permanent misalignment to your cervical spine.
- You may contort your spinal cord in an unnatural motion upon impact and incur permanent paralysis from the waist down.
What should I do if I get this diagnosis after a car accident?
There should be no question that a permanent disability diagnosis after a car accident calls for a personal injury claim against the responsible party.
To prove that your disability is permanent for your claim, you may have your treating physician provide a statement explaining how you have reached maximum medical improvement. This means that you have reached a stable condition but you may not improve any further with additional medical treatment. However, you may still require additional medical treatment to maintain this stable condition and manage your chronic pain.
If successfully proven, you may be able to receive financial compensation for your ongoing, long-term medical care. This may be in addition to being compensated for having to endure chronic pain and other forms of pain and suffering due to the responsible party’s negligence.
This blog is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to personal injury laws in the state of Florida. So for more information, please reach out to a talented Panama City auto accident attorney from Manuel & Thompson, PA.
