Car crashes can cause a host of injuries that may slowly worsen and may eventually claim someone’s life. From traumatic brain injuries that leave someone on life support for months to internal bleeding that leads to someone’s collapse days after a crash, there are a variety of injuries that people may think will be mild to moderate but end up proving fatal.
People dealing with the immediate aftermath of a car crash often fail to understand the long-term consequences of their circumstances right away. For example, there is often an assumption that an injury victim’s condition will improve once they undergo medical treatment. However, sometimes people end up succumbing to car crash injuries months after a collision occurs. A fatality that takes place long after a car crash might lead to a more challenging claim for a victim’s surviving loved ones.
Delayed death is often very expensive
Fatal injuries often cost even more than injuries that claim someone’s life at the scene of a collision. The cost of life support can add up over the weeks or months it takes for someone’s condition to worsen. Efforts to stabilize someone or save their life after a wreck can drastically increase the final price tag when compared with similar injuries that led to someone’s death shortly after the collisions. Receiving end-of-life care in a hospital often comes with a shocking price tag.
Additionally, families often have to absorb lost wages that people cannot earn because they want to be with their loved ones in the hospital. People may have already settled the car insurance claim when their loved one’s condition takes a turn for the worse or when they realize that they will never recover. They may then need to take the matter to civil court in some cases to demand appropriate compensation given the lasting implications that the tragedy will have for the family.
Fatal car crashes often lead to very sizable insurance claims and sometimes also to wrongful death lawsuits. Exploring every option for compensation is often beneficial for those directly impacted by a collision that eventually claimed the life of a loved one.