Chest Pain After a Car Accident in South Carolina

Is your chest hurting after a car accident? Chest injuries after a car accident are all too common. This kind of pain can represent a minor problem or a life-threatening injury. The insidious aspect of chest pain is that a chest injury might start off with minor symptoms and only later reveal itself to be serious or even catastrophic. You need to know the true seriousness of your injury as soon as possible for medical, legal, and financial reasons.

The most common causes of chest pain after a car accident

If you have a sore chest after a car accident, it is probably due to your body’s impact with airbags, seat belts, or one of the parts of the vehicle’s interior.

Airbags

Airbags save thousands of lives every year, but they can also injure people. They open so quickly that they explode during their deployment. Airbags are particularly dangerous if you are sitting too far forward in your seat when they deploy. They can cause internal injuries, internal bleeding, and broken ribs, among other injuries.

Seat belts

Seat belts, like airbags, save lives but sometimes hurt people. In an accident, when your body impacts your seat belt, some of the most common injuries are broken ribs, fractured sternum, contusions, and lacerations.

The vehicle interior

If your airbags don’t deploy, if you’re not wearing a seat belt, or if you are involved in a side-impact collision, your body will likely impact the interior of the vehicle such as the steering wheel, the dashboard, the windshield, the windows (side impacts), or the doors (side impacts). All of these impacts can cause serious or even fatal injuries.

Symptoms you should not ignore

Pain in the chest after a car accident can be symptomatic of many dangerous conditions. Below is a listing of some of them.

Heart damage

Heart damage is a potentially deadly condition. Chest pain, shortness of breath, excess perspiration, and pain in your left arm might indicate a myocardial contusion or other dangerous condition. If you experience these symptoms, get to a hospital immediately.

Lung damage

Right-side chest pain after a car accident could indicate a bruised or collapsed lung. Your lung might collapse from a puncture wound caused by a broken rib, for example. Look for a persistent cough and sharp pain that increases with deep breaths.

Broken ribs

Broken ribs are a very common consequence of a serious car accident. This condition can cause excruciating pain every time you draw a breath, and it can lead to other dangerous conditions. Look for swelling or bruising near your rib cage.

Ruptured or bruised spleen

Left side chest pain after a car accident might indicate a ruptured spleen, among other possible conditions. A doctor can remove your spleen, although removal will elevate your risk of serious infection throughout the remainder of your life. A ruptured spleen can threaten your life due to internal bleeding.

Costochondritis

Costochondritis after a car accident is a common ailment. “Costochondritis” sounds complicated, but it is merely an inflammation of the cartilage that connects the ribs to the sternum. The symptoms of costochondritis include a sharp or aching pain in the chest or chest discomfort that feels like excessive pressure. Do not ignore sternum pain after a car accident, even if it seems minor compared to your other injuries.

Muscle strains and tears

Muscle strains and tears are normally not life-threatening but can be painful. Look for tenderness and pain that increases the more you move.

Seek immediate medical attention

If you suffer any impact at all during a car accident, you need to seek immediate medical attention. Immediacy is important because:

• Your injury might be more serious than you imagine. Delaying medical treatment while you are suffering internal bleeding, for example, could be life-threatening.
• Certain injuries, such as whiplash, might not generate immediate symptoms. That doesn’t mean the condition doesn’t require immediate treatment. Seeking immediate medical treatment is the best way of preventing a temporary condition from maturing into a chronic condition.
• You don’t want to give the opposing party an opening to argue that your injuries did not occur until after the car accident. This would amount to claiming that the car accident did not cause your injuries. If successful, it would defeat your personal injury claim.
• You will need medical documentation created as soon as possible after the accident to prove your claim. Medical records are among the most credible forms of evidence.

If possible, proceed directly from the scene of the accident to a hospital.

How a South Carolina personal injury lawyer can help

A South Carolina car accident lawyer can help you in more ways than you might imagine. Below is a listing of some of the most important ways that a lawyer can help you.

Using South Carolina’s ‘fault’ car accident compensation system to your advantage

South Carolina, unlike some states, applies a fault-based system to car accident compensation. If you believe another party was responsible for your injuries, you have two options. First, you can make a third-party claim against their liability insurance policy. South Carolina requires every driver to carry bodily injury liability insurance in the amounts of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. Drivers must also carry $25,000 in property damage liability insurance per accident.

Your second option is to sue the at-fault driver directly. The driver’s liability insurer will join in the driver’s defense. Typically, you would want to wait until negotiations with the insurance company break down before you file a lawsuit. Since insurance adjusters are professional negotiators, you should let your lawyer negotiate for you.

Trial

If you select a lawyer with a strong record of winning at trial, there is an irony to consider. The more successful your lawyer’s track record at trial, the more eager the opposing party will be to settle rather than face your lawyer at trial. If you select an experienced trial lawyer and your case goes to trial, you will be ready.

Filing a lawsuit

If the value of your claim exceeds $7,500, you cannot use small claims court to resolve your claim. You will need a lawyer to help you draft a complaint, serve process on the defendant, file pretrial motions, conduct pretrial discovery, cross-examine witnesses at depositions, and represent you at trial.

There may be good reasons to file a lawsuit even if you want to avoid a trial—you can beat the statute of limitations deadline that way, for example, and you can gather evidence in the court-supervised pretrial discovery process. You can still settle at any time before or during the trial.

Contact us today for a free initial consultation

The McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips LLC trial attorneys have recovered over two billion dollars in compensation for their personal injury clients. The best part is that your risk is low because they charge zero attorney’s fees unless they win your case. Call us or fill out our contact form for a free initial consultation.