Indianapolis Broken Bone Injury Lawyers

Fractures are incredibly common when experiencing vehicular accidents, bike accidents, and pedestrian accidents. The average driver will experience three or four crashes during their lifetime, so it’s more than possible that you’ll experience a fracture at some point.

Broken bones are often accompanied by expensive medical bills including surgery, prescriptions, and physical rehabilitation. Additionally, many victims of broken bone injuries are forced to take time away from work, and if their injuries are severe enough, they may be unable to return to their pre-injury jobs. Your medical bills and lost wages can ruin you financially after an accident.

In the event that you suffered from a fracture due to another person’s negligence, you can file a personal injury claim against the person who’s responsible to receive compensation for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, emotional trauma, loss of consortium, and more.

If you were injured in Indiana, call Crossen Law Firm for legal support. We’ve helped numerous clients receive the compensation they deserved for life-altering fractures and other personal injuries. We offer 24/7 phone support at 317-401-8626, and you can also contact us online here.

What’s the Difference Between a Fracture and a Broken Bone?

Although people often refer to fractures and broken bones as if they’re two different things, they’re actually synonymous. Many people hold the misconception that one indicates a more serious injury, but the medical community defines fractures as a break in the bone, so you can use the two terms interchangeably.

Types of Fractures

Different types of fractures have differing levels of severity and require various medical treatments. Types of fractures include:

Compound Fractures

Compound fractures occur when a bone breaks and penetrates the skin. These fractures can cause serious infections because of the open wound. Compound fractures are organized by severity in three different categories known as the Gustilo System.

• Grade 1: Grade 1 compound fractures occur when a broken bone breaks the skin and the wound is less than a centimeter. This type of compound fracture is often difficult to see.
• Grade 2: Grade 2 compound fractures involve wounds that are greater than a centimeter.
• Grade 3A: Grade 3A compound fractures occur because of high-energy trauma that may have been caused by a gunshot wound or another severe injury.
• Grade 3B: Grade 3B compound fractures come with a significant amount of soft-tissue damage or loss leading to bone exposure. Those who suffer from Grade 3B compound fractures often require soft tissue transfers to cover the exposed bone.
• Grade 3C: Grade 3C compound fractures involve damage to an artery.

Closed Fractures: A closed fracture occurs when a broken bone doesn’t penetrate the skin. These types of fractures often occur from car accidents, sports injuries, and slip and falls.

Hairline Fractures: Hairline fractures are not as severe as the other types of fractures. They occur when someone suffers from a small crack in the outer layer of their bone.

Complete Bone Fractures: Complete fractures occur when the entire width of a bone breaks.

Compression Fractures: Compression fractures typically result from a car accident or serious fall. Part of a person’s vertebrae becomes compressed and eventually breaks due to trauma.

Oblique Fractures: Oblique fractures occur when someone breaks a bone at an angle, leaving it unstable. This type of fracture is not common but is incredibly severe and requires immediate medical care.

Spiral Fractures: Spiral fractures occur from a sudden twisting motion that makes the bone’s break appear like a spiral. Like the oblique fracture, the spiral fracture is unstable and requires immediate medical attention.

Segmental Fractures: Segmental fractures are also known as double breaks. It occurs when a bone suffers from multiple fractures. People also label two bones that become fractured at the same time as segmental fractures. Unfortunately, this type of fracture often requires surgery.

Fragmented Break: Fragmented breaks occur when a bone is shattered into several pieces.

Fracture-Dislocation: Fracture-dislocations occur when a bone breaks near a joint which results in that joint becoming displaced or dislocated.

Transverse Bone Fractures: Transverse bone fractures occur when a bone is broken at a right angle on the bone’s longer portion.

Greenstick Fractures: Greenstick fractures are incomplete and stable. They occur when a bone bends and fractures the outer side of the bone. These injuries are not as serious as other types of fractures and don’t require a significant recovery time.

What Fractures are Common After a Wreck?

After experiencing a vehicular accident, you could experience a fracture to any one or more of your 206 bones, but certain areas of your body are more likely to experience a fracture than others.

Some factors that may contribute to suffering from a fracture include:

• A vehicle or object crushing you in a wreck
• Vehicle ejection
• Being hit by an airbag

A few common fractures that occur after car accidents include:

• Lower Extremity Fractures: These fractures include your feet, ankles, and the lower parts of your legs. Wrecks that involve high speeds often result in tibia fractures. This fracture often requires surgery and rehabilitation.
• Spinal Fractures: Many different injuries can occur to your spinal column during a car accident. Your spine can become compressed, or you may even suffer from the severing of your spinal cord, which leads to paralysis.
• Skull Fractures: Skull fractures often lead to serious or even fatal injuries because of brain trauma. These fractures are common when a vehicle flips over or someone is ejected from a car due to the impact.
• Upper Extremity Fractures: Upper extremity fractures occur from shoulder joint fractures, wrist fractures, or humerus fractures. Upper extremity fractures often require surgery.
• Facial Fractures: Facial fractures are more common than you may think when experiencing a car accident. Around 11 percent of those injured in a car accident break at least one of their 14 facial bones. Common fractures include nose fractures, eye socket fractures, and jaw fractures.
• Femur Fractures: The femur is the strongest bone in your body, but it can break due to a high-impact car crash. Femur breaks are often accompanied by blood vessel damage and significant tissue damage.
• Pelvic Fractures: Pelvic breaks often occur from vehicle ejection. Pelvic fractures usually require surgery as well as an extended period of rehabilitation time.
• Rib Fractures: Serious car accidents often result in rib fractures. These fractures can puncture your lung and cause it to collapse.

Broken Bone Symptoms

Although some fractures may be obvious after suffering from a car accident, not all broken bones are immediately apparent. A few common symptoms that you may experience if you suffered from a fracture include:

• Limb or joint deformity
• Severe pain
• Significant bruising or swelling
• Lack of range of motion in the afflicted area
• Numbness or tingling in the affected location of your body

Treating Broken Bones

When you suspect that you’ve broken a bone, you should seek immediate medical attention. After going to the emergency room or another medical facility, you will likely receive a physical examination from a medical professional and an X-ray to diagnose broken bones. Additionally, your doctor or nurse practitioner may order an MRI or CT scan to diagnose soft-tissue damage that may have accompanied your fracture.

Your doctor will take several factors into account to treat your broken bone including your fracture’s severity and location as well as your age and health history. Additionally, your doctor will also consider how you fractured the bone.

If you suffered from a compound fracture, medical professionals will likely treat you for blood loss and will prescribe antibiotics to combat infections.

Medical professionals will do what it takes to ensure that your bone can return to its normal position after healing. Some fractures may only need a splint or cast to make a full recovery while others may require the bone to be set.

More serious breaks may require a closed reduction procedure or open reduction internal fixation surgery. Doctors perform closed fracture reductions when the bone needs to be repositioned without breaking the skin. More serious fractures require open reduction internal fixation surgery, where surgeons realign the bone with screws, rods, or plates.

Receiving compensation for medical treatment and lost wages

Bone fracture medical costs are often incredibly expensive. You may need to receive multiple doctor consultations, diagnostic tests, surgery, and physical therapy. Additionally, fractures may require you to take time away from work, creating an even more difficult financial situation.

If you experienced a fracture after a car accident that was someone else’s fault, you could receive compensation for medical bills and lost wages. Indiana residents have two years to file a personal injury claim after a car accident. In the event that your injury was caused by someone else’s negligence, you could recover damages for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, loss of consortium, emotional trauma, and more.

Call an Indiana Personal Injury Attorney

If you suffered from a car accident in Indianapolis or another accident that led to a bone fracture, contact Crossen Law Firm. You need expert legal assistance to help you with your personal injury claim, and our personal injury lawyers at Crossen Law Firm have helped countless Indiana residents receive the money they deserved for their injuries. To learn more about how we can help you with your claim, call 317-401-8626 or contact us online here.