Crushing Injuries

All individuals are vulnerable to many types of painful and debilitating injuries, but few are as difficult to treat as crushing injuries. A crushing injury occurs when a part of the body suffers tremendous pressure by being crushed between objects or under a heavy object and the ground, destroying the tissue and bone. Cruising injuries are serious medical emergencies when they occur to an extremity, but they are life-threatening situations when involving the torso, and almost always fatal when impacting the head. Facing the devastating aftermath of such an event often requires guidance, and securing representation from an experienced St. Louis crushing injury lawyer can be crucial for victims seeking justice and compensation.

What Causes Most Crushing Injuries In Missouri?

Medical professionals sometimes refer to crushing injuries as “catastrophic compression.” A crushing injury occurs when part of the body is placed under extreme pressure, either by being crushed between or pinned below heavy objects. The most common causes of crushing injuries in Missouri and elsewhere include the following:

• Workplace injuries, such as being caught between heavy equipment, or under fallen objects, or in collapsed trenches
• Pedestrian accidents, including rollover injuries or becoming crushed between a car and an obstacle
• Bicycle accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Fallen object injuries

The construction and warehousing industries are the most common work environments for workplace crushing injuries due to the use of heavy equipment, crates, beams, and shelving. The greater the force of the compression or impact, the more destruction occurs to the body’s tissue and bones.

What Are the Impacts of Crushing Injuries?

When a crushing injury occurs to a limb due to powerful compression, it causes thousands of tiny blood vessels as well as larger arteries to rupture, causing bruising and inflammation, while also ceasing the flow of oxygen into the cells. At the same time that the crush injury destroys the body tissue, it also causes damage to the bones, often with compound fractures. During a crushing injury, a phenomenon known as compartment syndrome occurs, during which extreme pressure in a portion of the body damages muscles, nerves, and blood vessels. Symptoms of crush injuries include:

• Bruising
• Bleeding
• Fractures
• Lacerations
• Abrasions
• Swelling
• Pale or blue-tinged skin in the area
• Loss of function
• Pain, numbness, or tingling

A crushed limb may appear misshapen. Crush injuries sometimes cause additional complications such as infection. Many crush injuries in the limbs result in medical amputations due to tissue and bone that’s destroyed beyond repair. When a crush injury occurs to the torso, the injury victim could experience internal bleeding and life-threatening organ damage. Crush injuries to the head cause skull fractures and brain damage, typically with fatal results or life-altering impairment.

The Long-Term Impacts of Crushing Injuries

Crush injuries are catastrophic. Even when a crushing injury does not end in amputation, the body part may never fully function as it did previously. Crushed limbs often end in medically necessary amputations or disability due to impaired function. Crush injuries in the torso may result in fatality or organ loss with medical complications and life-long adverse effects such as dependence on medications or dialysis, or the need for transplants, depending on which organs were destroyed. Those who survive crush injuries to the head often suffer life-altering brain damage with impaired function.

How Can a Personal Injury Attorney Help?

The most common causes of crush injuries are workplace accidents and traffic accidents. If someone else is responsible for the injury, the injury victim may pursue a claim for damages, for example, through workers’ compensation or a third-party lawsuit in a workplace crushing injury or with a car accident injury claim after a car or pedestrian accident. Recovering compensation for damages such as medical expenses, lost income, reduced earning capacity due to disability, compensation for pain and suffering, or wrongful death requires a well-executed claim. Contact Miller & Hine today so we can begin a strategy to recover the compensation you deserve.