If the injuries you sustained in a car accident do not affect your brain or spinal cord, then you have escaped the worst-case scenario, but plenty of other accident-related injuries can still cause chronic pain and make it difficult to work and engage in your usual daily activities. In some cases, the pain worsens over a period of days or weeks, which is bad enough when you and your doctors are just trying to find a way to manage the pain, but it is even worse when you are trying to persuade a car insurance company of how severe your accident-related injuries are. Getting injured is a financial burden, no matter the circumstances, but it is even more frustrating when you have to fight tooth and nail to get insurance companies to pay for your treatment. A Miami car accident lawyer can help you if your injuries feel worse than they look, and the at-fault driver or the insurance company is accusing you of exaggerating your symptoms.
Causes and Symptoms of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a set of troublesome symptoms that arise from an injury to a nerve in the arm, leg, wrist, or ankle. The nerve injury happens as a result of trauma to nearby bones or soft tissues. As a result, the syndrome affects an entire arm, leg, hand, or foot, the entire area controlled by the affected nerve. Symptoms include chronic pain, numbness or tingling, weakness, abnormal sweat production, abnormal growth of hair and nails, and changes to the color, temperature, and texture of the skin of the affected area. In some cases, the pain of CRPS is much worse than that of the acute injury that precipitated it. Some patients with CRPS are unable to work because their symptoms are so severe.
How Does Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Affect Your Car Accident Case?
The symptoms of CRPS eventually resolve as the injured nerves heal, and so the treatment, such as physical therapy and anti-inflammatory medications, focuses on the management of symptoms. If your CRPS is the result of injuries you sustained in a car accident, then you have the right to receive compensation for the cost of your treatment through an insurance claim. If your injuries are so severe that the cost of treatment exceeds the at-fault driver’s insurance policy limit, you have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit. You may need the help of a personal injury lawyer in negotiating with the insurance company to get it to pay for the entire cost of your CRPS treatment. Your lawyer can help you present evidence to prove that your symptoms are the direct result of the car accident.
Contact Gerson & Schwartz About Car Accident Cases
A car accident lawyer can help you if you are suffering from a painful condition such as CRPS as a result of a car accident. Contact Gerson & Schwartz in Miami, Florida, to discuss your case.