Broken bones of any sort may mean you cannot do your job properly. If you have been injured in some kind of accident and broken any of your bones, you are likely to need specialized medical treatment. You may need x-rays, and a cast or casts or surgery.
All of this is going to be expensive and you may be wondering if you can get compensation if the injuries were caused by some kind of negligence on the part of someone else.
If you have been in an accident that has left you with broken ribs, you may have mounting medical bills while you are unable to work and bring in a paycheck. Accidents can leave you in a sticky financial situation.
You will need to pursue a personal injury claim against the individual who is responsible for your injuries. So, be sure to maintain evidence and gather supporting documentation to show your injuries and damages and to prove that they were the result of the accident in question.
If you can prove who was at fault, you may be able to make a legitimate personal injury claim. Medical costs, lost income and even payments for “pain and suffering” and punitive damages may be claimed, depending on the state where you had the accident. In all injury claim situations, it is advisable to get help from an experienced personal injury attorney.
Broken Ribs are a Common Occurrence in Personal Injury Claims
Ribs are quite easily broken in accidents, especially motor vehicle accidents. Sometimes, it is hard to tell if a rib is broken until much later when pain appears or does not go away. If you have had an accident in which there has been an impact on your chest from a heavy object or during a head-on collision with another vehicle or object you should always get yourself checked out carefully.
Cracked or broken ribs can damage your internal organs and cause a lot of pain if left untreated.
Broken ribs usually heal with proper medical treatment, but you may find that you cannot do your normal job as well as before or do it all until you recover sufficiently. If your ribs are damaged very badly, you may need additional surgery as your heart or lungs could have been affected. Badly broken ribs may not heal quite the way they were before an accident so could be a long term problem you will have to deal with.
Broken Ribs May Lead to a Personal Injury Claim
If you have had any of your ribs broken in an accident that was definitely not your fault and you think you can prove it, you may have grounds for filing a personal injury claim. In some states, you may be able to make a claim even if you were partially to blame. Each state has different liability rules. As it is likely that you will have to face a significant financial cost you should consider your legal options as soon as you are able.
Most states have limitations on how long you have to make a claim and if the at-fault party was a government agency you may only have a few months before you are then unable to make a claim.
A personal injury claim can help pay for the full cost of treating your broken ribs and any loss in income. If there is likely to be future ongoing treatment necessary it is important that you include this in any claim you make or you will be out of pocket.
The Treatment of Broken Ribs
Treatment for broken ribs can vary depending on the severity of the fracture and your pain. In severe cases, surgery may be required. If the rib punctured a lung, the cost can be even more, and the recovery time will take even longer. According to SF Gate*, an uninsured patient was billed $12,000 for the treatment of a broken rib in 2007 and costs have increased since then.
The treatment will most likely include a hospital visit or a trip to the urgent care. There will likely be facility fees, doctor fees, and the costs of x-rays. Sometimes a wrap or brace is used, and painkillers are prescribed. Some patients may require physical therapy. Others will require surgery and then physical therapy.
According to Healthline**, it takes about 6 weeks for broken ribs to heal naturally, and in the meantime the accident victim should avoid activities that could cause further injury to the ribs, such as heavy lifting, bending, and playing sports.
Any activity that causes pain around the ribs should be stopped immediately. Returning to normal activities too early can worsen the injury and extend your recovery time while adding to your medical costs.
The treatment for a broken rib has changed. Doctors once treated fractured ribs by wrapping the torso tightly to keep the broken rib from moving, but that can restrict your breathing and cause respiratory conditions, such as pneumonia. In most cases, no supportive devices are used now, but they can be used in some cases.
If pain is severe, pain medications may be prescribed. In the days immediately following the injury, an injectable anesthesia may be used to help numb the nerves directly around the injured rib. An ice pack can be applied to the area to help reduce the swelling and pain, but it should be wrapped with a thin towel first to prevent skin irritation. If the break is severe, and causes difficulty breathing, surgery may be required. This could involve using plates and screws to stabilize the ribs during healing.
The National Institutes of Health report that the average cost of treating a rib with surgery is about $23,682 while the average cost of non-surgical treatment is $8,629 per case. While the overall cost of the surgical intervention was more, it reduces pulmonary complications and the length of any hospitalization, making it more cost effective.
Your Medical Expenses
You should maintain thorough documentation to how your medical expenses related to treating the injury. That includes receipts or bills from treating physicians, hospital bills, clinic costs, prescriptions, medical devices, and physical therapy. These bills should be itemized and then a total should be figured for the overall cost of the medical care associated with treating the broken rib.
As previously mentioned, it will take an average of 6 weeks for a broken rib to heal. For many people that means either part – or all – of that time off work. Maintain thorough documentation and supporting evidence to show your missed work and lost wages. You will want to recover those lost earnings through your personal injury claim.
Claiming Your Damages
When you pursue a personal injury claim for broken ribs, you will want to include all your damages in your claim and ask to be compensated for them all. This will include all your medical expenses added up plus your lost wages. You will need to include supporting documentation and evidence that shows your financial losses.
You will also need to provide documentation that indicates why the other party is liable for your losses, such as an accident report, photos of the accident scene and statements from witnesses. If you have suffered from depression or anxiety after the accident or because of the injury, your attorney may also include mental anguish as part of your personal injury claim.
Because you have medical expenses, you will also claim pain and suffering. A multiplier, ranging from 1 to 5, is used to determine your pain and suffering claim. Your medical expenses are added up then the multiplier is used.
For example, if your medical expenses total $10,000 for the broken ribs and your healing process is smooth and goes as planned, a multiplier of 2 may be used. That would mean you would ask for $20,000 for the pain and suffering you went through because of the broken ribs.
Using that scenario, you would claim $10,000 for medical bills, $20,000 for pain and suffering, and then include your lost wages – which let’s say are about $8,000. In that scenario, you would ask for $38,000 for those damages. If you had other damages, such as property damages, those totals would also be added onto that figure.
Help From a Personal Injury Attorney is Advisable
Personal injury attorneys deal with accidents all the time and an experienced attorney will be able to assess your chances of success in any potential personal injury claim. It is difficult assessing the full cost of a claim by yourself and you may find that the defendant, i.e. the person you are making the claim against, may be very reluctant to settle a claim in full without pressure from an experienced personal injury attorney.
Personal injury claims can be challenging. An accident injury lawyer is experienced in handling such cases and will be able to conduct a thorough investigation, gather supporting evidence and documentation, and then work to build a strong case against the other party.
To have a successful claim negligence must be proven and you must show how all four elements of negligence apply to your specific situation. Your lawyer will know how to do that.
Lawyers also have strong negotiation skills, and your attorney will be able to work to negotiate a settlement with the at-fault party’s insurance. Lawyers can often get these cases settled out of court, which means that a fair settlement is much more likely to happen if you have legal representation working for you.
*sfgate.com/business/article/Uninsured-patient-billed-more-than-12-000-for-2577023.php
** healthline.com/health/broken-rib
