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Any injury to the internal organs can be catastrophic due to the critical functions these body parts perform. Trauma is the leading cause of death in the United States – including Rhode Island – among people younger than 45 years old. About 10 percent of trauma fatalities are due to abdominal injury alone, including damage to the liver, spleen and kidneys.
When major trauma occurs – such as in a serious car accident – the internal bleeding that indicates organ damage may be obvious. Less severe trauma, however, which may occur in a lower-speed crash, may also damage internal organs and require surgical intervention. Surgery or another medical error may actually be the cause of organ damage.
What’s common to all these injuries is their potentially life-threatening nature, along with the fact that many are caused by somebody else’s negligence or recklessness.
Marasco & Nesselbush, Rhode Island’s trusted personal injury law firm, has helped many of our clients achieve extraordinary results in personal injury cases involving internal organ damage. Please see the client testimonials about the quality legal care we provide, and the representative case highlights for details about our case results.
Learn how we can help you by calling or contacting us for a free case review. Our lawyers are driven by our desire to help people.
About Internal Organ Injury
While a detailed discussion of internal organ damage is best left to medical professionals, it’s worth noting here the types and causes of organ damage.
Organs of the Body
How many organs does the human body have? You may be surprised to learn that there is no clear-cut answer to this question. Depending on how an organ is defined, there may be as few as 78 and as many as 1,000 individual organs in our bodies.
What is clear is that five organs are vital to human survival:
- Brain.
- Heart.
- Kidneys.
- Liver.
- Lungs.
Injury to any of these vital organs constitutes a medical emergency, although this in no way downplays injuries to other organs, which include the spleen, intestines, colon, stomach, pancreas, bladder and blood vessels.
Mechanism of Injury
Injuries to internal organs may occur in two ways:
- Blunt trauma occurs during a collision with another object, typically at high speed. Car accidents, falls and physical assaults are among the sources of blunt trauma.
- Penetrating trauma is caused by a foreign object piercing the organ. Examples of penetrating trauma include gunshot wounds, knife wounds and surgical instrument wounds.
Causes Of Organ Damage
As personal injury lawyers, we’re focused on the types of organ-damaging incidents that are caused by negligence. Marasco & Nesselbush help clients with internal organ damage related to the following types of accidents:
- Car accidents – In a car accident, the sudden deceleration of a vehicle can cause a driver’s body to suffer blunt trauma from the windshield, steering wheel, seatbelt and other hard surfaces. Penetrating injuries can also occur from splintering bone and vehicle parts. Truck, boat, motorcycle, bicycle and pedestrian accidents are other common sources of internal organ damage.
- Slip-and-fall accidents – Falls from heights are particularly dangerous, but falling on a prominent edge or sharp object could also damage organs.
- Construction accidents – The construction industry is one of the most dangerous lines of work. Construction site hazards include falls, explosions, being struck by a falling object or vehicle, and accidents with nail guns and other power tools. Every job, however, exposes workers to on the job injuries.
- Medical malpractice – An incorrect incision, a puncture or a perforation made during surgery could cause organ damage. A doctor may also fail to diagnose or properly treat an existing organ injury, leave a surgical instrument inside the patient’s body, or make a mistake that leads to post-surgical infection.
- Product liability – A defective motor vehicle, piece of equipment, dangerous drug, defective medical device, and other unsafe products can cause serious harm to consumers.
In addition to helping you explore an organ damage lawsuit against a negligent third party, our lawyers can also assist you with a Social Security disability claim warranted by organ damage.
Find Out Whether You Have A Case
Any damage to the complex organs of the human body can cause serious, lasting harm and high costs. Some of these costs might be recoverable through a personal injury lawsuit, but hiring the right law firm makes all the difference in your case.
The Rhode Island personal injury lawyers at Marasco & Nesselbush take pride in providing compassionate, competent and intelligent representation. We put your best interests first and seek nothing less than extraordinary results for each and every client.
Learn how Marasco & Nesselbush can help you through a free discussion of your case. Call or contact us today to get started.
Sources:
- Journal of Minimal Access Surgery – To study the incidence of organ damage and post-operative care in patients of blunt abdominal trauma
- Harvard Medical School – Blunt Abdominal Trauma: Injury to the Epigastrium
- The Merck Manual – Overview of Abdominal Trauma
- WebMD – Internal Bleeding Due to Trauma
- American Association of Anatomists
Injured and not sure what your case is worth? Find out for free.
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