When you think of the likely types of injuries you could sustain as the result of a car crash, what comes to your mind? Broken bones? Whiplash? Cuts, scrapes and bruises? While it is true that a car crash can produce all of these types of injuries, unfortunately, you can also sustain far more serious injuries, up to and including those that the legal and insurance communities categorize as catastrophic.
The Lawyer’s Monthly reports that in order to rise to the level of catastrophic, an injury must have lasting consequences that leave you permanently disabled in some manner.
Catastrophic injury examples
Common catastrophic injuries include the following:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal cord injuries that result in paraplegia or quadriplegia
- Severe burns, especially to your face
- Crush injuries that require amputation of one or more of your limbs
- Eye injuries that result in severe loss of vision or total blindness
- Ear injuries that result in severe loss of hearing or total deafness
Life-changing event
In other words, a catastrophic injury changes your life forever. You can no longer perform your daily functions as you once did. You may need to use a wheelchair or prosthesis for purposes of mobility. You may require months or years of rehabilitation. You may find it difficult, if not impossible, to secure and maintain meaningful employment. Your quality of life may diminish drastically because you fear or dislike leaving your home because of your appearance.
All in all, sustaining a catastrophic injury in a car crash represents a truly life-changing event from which you will never completely recover.