How Does Surgery Affect My Personal Injury Case?

When a person is injured a car accident or a slip and fall accident, shock is usually the first thing people feel. Your adrenaline is up and you are on alert.  It is similar to working out. You go to the gym and are feeling good. However, the next day, you cannot get out of bed! It has a formal name called “delayed onset muscle soreness”. Most people generally have the same reaction after a car accident. Immediately after the accident, they feel “okay”.  But, later that day or in the evening, when they are trying to sleep, they pain surfaces.  I cannot tell you how many times I have clients tell me that they are just a “little sore” immediately after an accident. Yet, days, weeks or months later, that soreness does not go away and becomes worse.   

After an accident, if you are feeling sore, the best course of action is to seek conservative care.  Conservative care generally consists of seeing a primary care physician, chiropractor, physical therapist and/or massage therapist. If you were injured in a car accident and sustained a strain of your neck, it generally takes 2 to 3 months for that injury to resolve with conservative treatment. 

However, if the discs in your spine were disrupted or a nerve became impinged, you will generally require more treatment, that last longer than the 2 to 3 month timeline. After this period, your treatment providers may refer you out to more invasive care, such as undergoing an MRI or having injections performed.  If those fail, your doctor may decide that you may need surgery.

The question client’s ask, is “How does having surgery affect my personal injury case? The answer is actually very simply, the cost of the surgery, as well as the pain and suffering you had to endure, associated with having surgery will be part of your damages in your personal injury case.   

Next time, we will discuss recorded statements in your personal injury case.