Car crash victims often sustain blunt chest trauma from the force of the impact and this in turn can cause broken ribs. Broken ribs can be very painful and sometimes result in pneumothorax or collapsed lungs.
The issue in such cases is that beyond diagnosing the injury and determining that a lung has or hasn't collapsed, there isn't a great deal of treatment that can be accomplished beyond pain alleviation. This in turn results in claims that have relatively minimal medical expenses but a great deal of pain and inconvenience.
In cases involving suspected pneumothorax the typical treatment is to perform chest x-rays or a ct scan and then to ensure the lung can reinflate by a variety of means including insertion of a chest tube, needle aspiration and/or in more serious cases, surgery.
This phenomenon results in insurance adjusters offering less than the injured victims think is reasonable. This is because the auto liability industry is highly focused on economic variables such as medical expenses or lost wages and less on actual physical pain.
Thus, it is important that the victim let their treating healthcare provider know the extent of pain and inconvenience at each visit. Keeping a sort of pain diary can fill in the day to day impact of such an injury.
