High-speed car collisions occur daily in Tennessee and throughout the country. Many of those involved in these accidents become victims of blunt force trauma and internal bleeding. Severe internal bleeding can be fatal unless the victim gets immediate medical treatment or surgery.
Whenever people experience a blunt force trauma such as in a car crash, the impact may damage their blood vessels or organs, causing bleeding. The severity of the bleeding depends on the force of the impact. For example, accident victims ejected from a vehicle could suffer damage to their heart, liver, head, major blood vessels and around their lungs, which can produce serious internal bleeding. In other cases of blunt force trauma, victims may incur broken bones or simply deep bruising. Some blunt force trauma victims experience internal bleeding a few days or hours following the incident. In some cases, however, the bleeding stops on its own.
Victims of blunt force trauma can tell they are bleeding internally if they have certain symptoms that become worse. Some of those symptoms are ecchymosis, or patches of skin that turns deep purple or stomach swelling and pain. Headaches could signal bleeding of the brain, while fainting spells, dizziness or light-headedness might indicate that a person is internally losing large quantities of blood.
While many car accident victims die because of blunt force trauma, others may require surgery, long hospital stays and extensive therapy. Because severe blunt trauma is common among those involved in high-speed collisions, it may be possible for the injured party to recover damages if it can be shown that the accident was caused by the negligence of another driver. An attorney can examine police reports and other evidence to support a personal injury lawsuit on behalf of an injured client.
Source: WebMD, “Internal Bleeding Due to Trauma”, Amita Shroff, M.D., Sept. 9, 2013