Many people, when they think of whiplash, consider it a relatively minor injury that will resolve fairly quickly. For some people, however, whiplash can prove much more serious–and can linger far longer, posing limitations in nearly every area of the victim’s life.
Did you suffer whiplash in an accident? If so, you may deserve compensation for your injuries. A lawyer can help you go over your right to compensation and pursue a personal injury claim.
How Much Compensation Can You Expect From a Henderson Whiplash Injury?
An attorney cannot guarantee the compensation you will ultimately recover from your whiplash injuries but can give you a better idea of what to expect as you pursue compensation. Consider these critical elements that can impact your claim.
How Severe are Your Injuries, and what Type of Medical Care did You Need?
If you have relatively minor injuries, you may have comparatively few medical bills, since you may recover with relatively little intervention. On the other hand, if you suffer from severe whiplash injuries, you may need more medical treatment, which can cause your medical bills to mount accordingly. The more treatment you require for your injuries, the more medical bills you may face – and the greater the pain and suffering you may have to contend with. Furthermore, serious whiplash can cause more long-term limitations on your life.
The medical bills you have for whiplash injuries – and any other injuries associated with the accident that caused the whiplash – will serve as the foundation of your personal injury claim. You should include all medical costs, from the cost of an exam in the emergency room to the cost of ongoing physical therapy as you work to recover mobility in your neck and shoulders, as part of your claim. An attorney can help you break down those costs and go over what medical costs you may want to include as part of your claim.
How Much Time at Work did You Miss?
Many people find that the lost wages that come along with a serious accident can cause just as much financial impact as their medical costs. Whiplash can prove incredibly painful.
If you work in a highly active workplace, where you need to do heavy lifting or repetitive motions, you may find that whiplash prevents you from taking care of those job tasks. Even sitting behind a desk for a long period of time could make your pain and stiffness increase.
If your employer cannot modify your responsibilities to make it easier for you to work in spite of those limitations, you may have to miss considerable time at work – and face the financial challenges that go along with it. You can include those lost wages as part of a whiplash injury claim.
What are the Limits of the Liable Party’s Insurance Policy?
In most cases, you will not have to seek compensation from the party that caused your accident directly. Most of the time, you will seek compensation through that party’s liability insurance. For example, if your whiplash injuries occurred in a car accident, you may need to pursue compensation from the liable driver’s auto insurance company.
If your injuries occurred in a fall, you may pursue compensation from the property insurance company. In addition to those key elements, most whiplash claims include compensation for pain and suffering: compensation for the non-financial damages you sustained in the accident.
Who Bears Liability for Whiplash Injuries in Henderson?
Work closely with an attorney to determine who bears liability for your whiplash injuries, since you may determine that more than one party shares liability for the accident. In general, your attorney will ask three key questions to start establishing liability for the accident:
- Who bore a duty of care to you at the time of the accident?
- How did the liable party violate that duty of care?
- How did that violation lead to your injuries?
Suppose, for example, that your whiplash injuries occurred in a car accident. You might find that the liable driver violated his duty of care to you by growing distracted at a red light, causing his vehicle to hit yours from behind. If you suffered injuries in a fall because of a slick spot on the floor of a retail establishment, the company operating in that building might have violated its duty of care to you by failing to clean up a spill.
Symptoms of Whiplash
Whiplash usually falls into two categories. The immediate symptoms of whiplash usually involve neck pain and stiffness. The pain may grow worse when you move your neck. You may also suffer from headaches or from numbness and tingling in your shoulder, upper back, and arms, depending on where the whiplash occurs and what impact it has on you.
Long-term sufferers may find themselves suffering from ongoing pain and stiffness in the neck and shoulders. Often, chronic whiplash seems to get better for a little while, then flares with renewed intensity. The longer those symptoms go on, the more limitations they can pose in the victim’s everyday life.
Some victims find it difficult to enjoy the activities they once did. Sitting in the wrong position, vigorous movement, or engaging in high-impact activities can all increase symptoms of whiplash.
If You Need a Henderson Whiplash Injury Attorney, Contact us Today
If you suffered whiplash injuries in Henderson, Pacific West Injury Law can help. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help connect you to an experienced whiplash injury attorney.