Continued from What Must Be Proven to Win an Accident and Injury Case in Tennessee? (Part 1)
We are discussing exactly what is a “Permanent Injury”?
It is essential that you have competent expert medical evidence (usually your treating physician) to prove the permanency of the injury causing your disability. The courts have held that the permanency of any given injury must be established by a reasonable degree of medical certainty. They have held consistently that an opinion on this issue is exclusively “with in the realm of medical science.”
All of the above confusing language is best explained by a couple of examples:
Example 1 (a) You were rear ended by another vehicle and received a strained neck from the impact. Normally after rest and maybe therapy, your muscles return to normal. This would not be considered to be a permanent injury because you had returned to normal. Normally physicians will testify that if you don’t have any structural or anatomical damage you do not have a permanent injury. (b) Let’s consider the same auto accident but, instead of receiving a neck strain, you are diagnosed with a herniated, ruptured, and/or a bulging disc in your neck. You go through physical therapy but you are still having problems. Your physician testifies that you have structural damage and an anatomical change in your spine. Whether you have surgery to correct the problem or your condition is simply managed with medications or exercise, this would probably be considered a permanent injury.
Example 2 (a) We all have had a sprained ankle at some time in our lives. Let’s assume it happened at a local business because there was a loose floor tile and you tripped while shopping. A sprained ankle is normally strained or stretched ligaments in your ankle. With rest the swelling goes down and you are as good as new. This would not be considered a permanent injury. (b) Let’s look at the same incident but this time you actually tore the ligaments in your ankle due to the loose floor tile. This, matter of degree of the injury would be considered to be a permanent injury because there was some sort of permanent change to your body.
Establishing permanent versus temporary injury in a case is difficult. You will need to treat with your physician until you have achieved the maximum improvement you can be expected to achieve given the injury and then medical records will need to be requested and received from every medical profeesional you saw while treating (to include doctors, physical therapist, testing and diagnostics etc), doctors will perhaps need to be deposed, and, in some instances, medical experts will need to be obtained to testify at trial. A permanent injury is one that is going to be with you all of your life, it could perhaps contribute to your not living as long as you should have, or take away your quality of life and ability to provide for your family. You will need to hire a certified trial attorney with experience in your type of case to make sure you are compensated not only for your immediate losses because of the accident (medical bills, time off work) but for future losses (such as inability to work or enjoy life).