Whiplash Injury in ARCHIVES Forum

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Whiplash Injury

Author	Comment
Elaine2004	Whiplash Injury	Lead	[-]
Posts: 2777 (05/09/05 02:58:35) Senior Member * Moderator * Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tags : None Remove this ad This is so true in my case. I definitely feel like I got screwed with my settlement. I had no clue I was so messed up from my car accident. I knew I hurt but being young, dumb, and going through a divorce, $25,000 sounded like a fortune to me. I had a lawyer who told me, I should be happy I was getting what I was getting. Why he said that is beyond me but I should have gotten a clue and hired another attorney. I wanted open medical and he said no! That is why I think lawyers and insurance companies are in the "racket" together. Bad thing is, I didn't even have an MRI to find out just what kind of shape I was really in. You don't get broadsided at 70mph and it not do any damage. Live and learn I guess! If you are the victim of a whiplash injury, you stand an excellent chance of winding up screwed by an insurance company, screwed by your own lawyer, screwed by your own doctor, and cheated out of proper repairs by the body shop that fixes your car . Here are just a few reasons for this: 1) Many doctors are not familiar with the latest diagnostic procedures for proving permanent nerve damage in a whiplash case so they incorrectly tell their patients not to worry, and that they will get better soon with a little rest and some aspirin. There are many cases where the whiplash victim will never fully recover, and will actually get worse over the years. 2) Too many lawyers don't know how to properly handle a whiplash case and don't have a clue as to how to overcome the phony arguments used by some insurance companies to justify their refusal to pay a big settlement. 3) Many lawyers incorrectly tell their clients that it is impossible to fight an insurance company in a whiplash case unless they hire expensive engineering experts who charge thousands of dollars to prove why minor vehicle damage can lead to major injury. 4) Too many lawyers are incorrectly telling their clients that if they do not have an obvious disc herniation their case isn't worth very much money. This is false. Whiplash victims who can prove hidden nerve damage are getting as much as $100,000 and up with no disc herniations. 5) Too many lawyers are unwilling to expend the effort to learn what is necessary to win against insurance companies in a whiplash case. Many of them are doing nearly nothing for their clients beyond taking 33% to 40% of their settlement money for doing virtually no legal work on behalf of the injured whiplash victim. The dirty little secret in the law business is the prevalence of so-called "settlement days." These are days where insurance company lawyers show up at the plaintiff's law firm and issue checks to settle cases wholesale just to get rid of them. Aside from filing the case, your lawyer may do almost nothing for you. In fact, your lawyer may not even file a lawsuit. All that may be done is that the law office sends a "demand letter" to the insurance company asking for money, and then takes whatever the insurance company eventually pays. The lawyer just waits for a settlement day and then skims off 33% to 40% of your settlement without doing any meaningful work on your behalf. Not all lawyers do this. The truly excellent attorneys would never engage in such practices. Finding a truly excellent attorney who is willing to learn how to fight for a whiplash victim is not easy. 6) Some insurance companies take advantage of lazy, incompetent lawyers who will take any settlement and run, so they offer "peanuts" and know they can get away with it. 7) There is about a 50% chance that your car has major hidden damage after a low speed rear end impact that the body shop will not repair. This damage does not involve the bumper and it is far more serious, but some insurance companies actually discourage repair shops from fixing it because it drives up insurance claims costs. The bottom line -- you get cheated out of repairs that often cost $2500 or more. And then the insurance company lawyers add insult to injury by claiming that photos of your car don't show a lot of damage so you really can't be very badly injured. In fact, the damage is hidden and will not show up in any photographs!
Elaine2004	Re: Whiplash Injury	#1	[-]
Posts: 2777 (05/09/05 12:13:39) Senior Member * Moderator * Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Now that I have read this over again, I have to comment on #7. The vehicle I was riding in was totalled. It was a heavy duty four wheel drive pickup. We were hit so hard on my side that the box actually came off the pickup. So much for hidden damage. The only thing hidden and damaged was me. I was lucky that I was sitting about six inches from the door and not leaning against it like I usually do. The door pretty much was opening the wrong way. It knocked me across the seat and almost into the guys lap that I was riding with. Back window popped out and hit me in the back of the head. "He was knocked out from the impact. I can remember the truck starting to flip, it was on two wheels and then it came back down on all four. OMG, what a nightmare. The ambulance came and I refused to go to the hospital. I told them nothing was wrong that my neck was just a little stiff. They told me if nothing was wrong, my neck wouldn't be stiff. Stubborn me, I still refused. Four hours later, I went to the hospital on my own as I could barely move. Black and blue all the way down my right side. All they did was x-ray my neck, put me in a cervical collar, a few pills, and sent me on my merry way..UGGH! That was not the end of it by no means. The next three years were total hell. I did every type of therapy there was to do. In the end, I settled for a pissy $25,000. Excuse my language but...... This all happened in 1985. Three jaw surgeries, two back fusions later, I am now on disability. I managed to work until 2000 and it was tough. My getup consisted of a splint, a backbrace, an ace bandage tied around the top of my right leg, and a elbow brace. If I wasn't a site for sore eyes. I could only work part time as the pain was just too much. Luckily I had enough credits for disability. Doesn't amount to a whole lot but the good thing is I have Medicare, which I am hoping will cover my jaw when and "IF" I decide to do something. I didn't mean to write a book but if you are involved in an accident, don't sell yourself short like I did. The amount you are getting sounds like a lot, until you start paying out of pocket because the amount you got, didn't even begin to cover expenses. If nothing else, push for open medical. That is where I really messed up. Elaine
Elaine2004	Re: Whiplash Injury	#2	[-]
Posts: 2777 (05/18/05 14:22:22) Senior Member * Moderator * Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Neck pain is one of the most frequent causes of visits to health care providers. Most commonly neck pain results from an acute trauma or chronic stress placed upon the muscles within the neck. Less frequently neck pain results from impingement of the nerves, which exit out of the spine within the neck. Anyone experiencing numbness, tingling, nausea, dizziness or changes in vision associated with their neck pain should be thoroughly evaluated to rule out cervical impingement of the nerves or blood vessels within the neck. The most common cause of neck pain results from weakened muscles and poor posture. A forward head posture results in strain of the posterior muscles of the neck. This is commonly observed while driving, working on a computer, talking on a telephone or sitting at a desk. Having improper pillow support can also be a cause of neck pain. The pain is felt as a tight aching pain felt in the back of the neck and shoulders. Commonly this pain is felt as facial pain or a headache that comes up the back of the head to in and around the eyes. What is not frequently realized is that many of the muscles of the anterior neck control the jaw and tongue. Pain in these muscles can refer pain into the face, teeth and can feel like swollen glands or a lump in the throat. This can give the voice a hoarseness and cause difficulty in swallowing. Additionally, the nerve that innervates the jaw muscles and TMJ also commingles with the nerves of the neck. Therefore dysfunction within the neck structures commonly leads to problems within the jaw and vice versa. Most treatments are aimed at encouraging the normal range of motion of the joints and muscles within the neck and decreasing the aggravating factors. Surgery is only indicated where there is clear evidence that a disc or vertebrae is out of place and causing the pain and dysfunction. Even then more conservative treatments should be attempted initially.

American Dental Assoc. Wikipedia - TMJD eMedicine Health - TMJ MedlinePlus - TMJ
American Pain Association

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