If someone’s negligence caused your fracture (broken bone), you may be able to get compensation.
Fracture means broken bone. A bone can be totally fractured or partly fractured. There are many ways that bones can fracture.
Bones can fracture in multiple pieces, lengthwise or crossways.
Types of Fractures – Effect on Injury Case
The severity of a fracture will affect the full value of the case for settlement purposes.
If the bone’s breaking point has been slightly surpassed, then the bone may crack rather than break all the way through. The full value of this case is generally smaller.
If the force in the accident is big, like a big car accident or a gunshot, the bone can shatter. If the bone shatters, the full value of the case is usually much higher.
Your doctor will let you know how severe your fracture is.
If the bone fractures in a way that bone fragments come out through your skin, or a wound goes down to your fractured bone, you have an “open” fracture. Open fractures are serious because after you break the skin, the bone and the wound can get infected.
Thus, open fractures have a higher full value for settlement purposes.
What are Typical Kinds of Fractures in a Personal Injury Case?
Stable fracture
The fractured ends of the bone meet up and are hardly out of alignment. These cases usually have a smaller full value.
I’ve settled stable fracture cases for:
- $210,000 for a stable scaphoid (wrist) fracture from a fall off a booth at a restaurant
- Over $69,000 for a stable tibial plateau fracture for a pedestrian accident case
$52,500 Settlement for Bicyclist’s Compression Fracture After Crashing Into Car
- $52,500 for a stable thoracic compression fracture when a car hit a bike rider
I’ve settled other stable fracture cases like:
- $35,000 for a stable calcaneus (heel bone) fracture from a trip and fall at a store
- $35,000 for a stable wrist fracture from a fall of stairs with a loose handrail
- $33,000 for a stable tibial plateau fracture after a car hit a bike rider
- $30,000 for a stable humerus (long bone in upper arm) fracture from a fall from a bench
- $25,000 for a stable tibia fracture after a car hit a driver of another car
- $25,000 for a stable ankle fracture from a slip and fall on a cruise ship
- $17,000 for stable toe fracture from accident at Publix
- $15,000 stable toe fracture from stubbed toe at hotel
- $10,000 for a stable ankle fracture from a slip and fall in a store
- $10,000 for a stable wrist fracture when a car hit a golf cart driver. (Policy limits)
- $10,000 for a stable elbow and wrist fracture when a car cut off a bicyclist. (Policy limits)
- $10,000 for stable suspected clavicle (collarbone) fracture from car accident
- $7,500 for stable finger fracture from car accident; Paid by Progressive.
- Many others
Open, compound fracture
Your skin may be broken by the bone or by a force at the time of the break. You may or may not be able to see the bone in your wound. These fractures have a higher full value for settlement purposes.
Comminuted fracture
With a comminuted fracture, the bone breaks into 3 or more parts. Comminuted fractures have a higher full value.
What Causes Fractures?
The most typical cause of broken bones that lead to personal injury cases are:
Trauma
A car accident, motorcycle crash, or a fall can cause a broken bone.
Osteoporosis
This condition makes the bones weaker and more susceptible to fracture. If you have osteoporosis and someone’s carelessness caused your fracture, you may still have a case.
You still have a case even if you have a pre-existing condition like osteoporosis. I settled a hip fracture trip and fall case for fair value where my client had osteoporosis.
Pain with Fractures
A lot of fractures are extremely painful and may not allow you to move your injured body part. Thus, insurance companies assign more money to the pain and suffering component of a fracture in an injury case.
Other signs of a fracture are:
- Deformity
- Bruising
- Swelling
If you have any of these symptoms, quickly take photos of the injured area. Be sure to include your face and the injured area in at least one photo.
Quickly send the photo to the insurance company that insures the liable party. This will get the claims adjuster to look at your case.
Your Doctor
When your doctor examines you, he or she will determine how severe your injury is. Your doctor will ask you about how the injury happened, your symptoms and your medical history.
Be sure to give the doctor an accurate explanation what happened. This is particularly true if the accident wasn’t immediately reported, like a car crash.
The insurance company will look for things in your doctor’s records, such as how the injury happened, as a reason to pay you less money.
X-rays are the most typical way to see a fracture, because they show images of the bone. X-rays may show if a bone is broken or not.
The x-ray will show the kind of fracture and where it is located. If your x-ray shows a fracture, take a photo of it while the doctor is showing it to you. Quickly send it to the proper insurance company.
You should also request a copy of your x-ray. Then send it to the insurance company for the responsible party.
Medical Treatment
The doctor’s goal is to put the broken parts back into position and stop them from moving out of place until they have healed. In many situations, the doctor will put parts of your bone back to the beginning position.
This is called reduction. Broken bone ends get better by joining with the new bone around the outside of the broken parts.
Surgery
Surgery may be needed for the broken bone. Surgery increases the full value of the case.
In most Florida car accident cases, you may be required to have a permanent injury to get money for pain and suffering. For settlement purposes, most insurance companies consider surgery to be a permanent injury.
Cast
The most typical kind of treatment for a fracture is a cast. This is because most fractured bones can heal properly if they’ve been repositioned and a cast has been used to keep the fractured ends in correct position while they mend.
If a doctor puts a cast on your broken bone, this increases the full value of the case for settlement purposes.
Tip: Take a photo of your cast. Include your face in at least one photo. Quickly send it to the insurance adjuster.
External fixation
With external fixation, screws and metal pins are put into the fractured bone below and above the broken bone area. The screws and pins are joined to a metal bar outside of your skin.
This contraption stabilizes and hold the bones in the correct position while they recover. In injuries where other soft tissues and the skin are severely injured, the doctor may use an external fixator until your surgery can be done.
External fixation increases the full value of the claim for settlement purposes.
Tip: Send the adjuster pictures of any external fixator on your body. These pictures increase the full case value.
I settled a case for $325,000 where my client had external fixation on his tibia fracture. (The photo is above).
A car hit him while he was a pedestrian in Coconut Grove, Florida.
Open Reduction and Internal Fixation (ORIF)
During this surgery, the bone fragments are first put back in place. They are then held in place by screws or plates to the outside surface of the bone.
The bone fragments can also be held in place by putting rods in the marrow space in the middle of the bone.
I’ve settled open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) cases for $445,000, $325,000, $200,000 and many other amounts.
The image above is from a trip and fall hip fracture case that I settled.
Did someone’s carelessness cause your injury in an accident in Florida, or on a cruise or boat?
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