QuestionHi, Thanks for taking my question.
I was involved in an accident with another vehicle. A truck pulled out in front of me and I hit him head on. The driver said he didn't see me. Myself and my wife were injured. My injurys were bumps and bruises, but my wife sustained a head injury and broken ribs. The driver of the truck admitted fault but heres the catch. The driver had a surgical bandage that covered his entire right eye. My question or questions is should I sign a medical release form.(His insurance company wants a release of ALL medical records). Should I get legal representation. My wife is unable to work as of now. Is it legal to drive after eye surgury especially with one eye. I live in Pennsylvania.
Thanks for yor time
AnswerHi Thomas,
I am sorry to hear of the injuries to you and especially to your wife. Although Dr. Settlement is an expert in self help insurance claims, I do believe that an attorney is required in this case. Here is why.
First, we have head injuries on a motorcycle. And those have the potential of being very serious lifelong problems. Second, we have the potential for punitive damages since the driving is borderline on willful misconduct or gross negligence.
For those two reasons, I want you to find a good attorney ASAP. Do so BEFORE you sign any of those insurance release forms. You will NOT be signing those when you hire an attorney. She will tell the adjuster that the medicals will be furnished in due time.
Another advantage of hiring an experienced attorney is that she can arrange for competent examination and testing for brain injury and temporomandibular joint syndrome.
Here is some information about brain injuries. Read through the list with your wife and be prepared for the interview with the attorney. By the way, be sure to negotiate a very low fee if the tortfeasor has only minimal limits. If the tortfeasor is carrying only $25K limits, a blind dog with a note in its mouth could get those limits, so why would you pay an attorney much of a fee to do so.
TWO COURSES OF ACTION. The first one is to agree to pay the full fees of an attorney who is an expert at handling serious brain injuries. The second choice is to ask the attorney for a break if the tortfeasor has minimum limits.
What are your limits on the UIM coverage? Let's say that you only have available $25K if the tortfeasor has only $25K. Then you could approach an attorney like this. Tell her that you feel the tortfeasor's $25K is a "gimmie". And, if your wife has head injuries, then also your own UIM $25K is a "gimmie". In other words, there is not going to be a whole lot of difficult legal work necessary to obtain payment of both of those policy limits. You can do that yourself. Or, if it is agreed these policies could be paid with a simple letter, offer the attorney some reasonable fee to write that letter and to make those settlements for you.
BUT, you would be willing to pay the attorney her normal fee on anything she can bring in that is in addition to those two $25K policies, ON CONDITION that she also will defend against the subrogation claim. Introduction to Subrogation— http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0459.htm Forced Payback to YOUR OWN Insurer From Your Personal Injury Award.
That subrogation defense ought to go fairly well if your wife's brain injury is even moderate, since the value of your wife's claim sounds like it should be well in excess of $50K. Hence, there is no way that your wife would be "made whole" by having all of her general damages (i.e. pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, and severe emotional distress) paid in full if your own insurer is able to take part of your award in subrogation.
Thus, the defense against a subrogation claim ought to require no more than one solid letter, and perhaps a follow-up. If the attorney insists, then you could agree to pay a fee on this part of your award as well. For example, if your own PIP or Med/Pay has subrogation, why should they (your own company) be allowed to take part of your third party (tortfeasor's company) limits or your own UIM limits? So this is part of what an attorney can help with.
But your attorney can also guide your wife on getting to both a neuropsychologist and a dentist who specializes in temporomandibular joint syndrome (TMJ or TMD). Do NOT worry about the money. Your attorney will find the insurance sources to pay for that. It could be your own vehicle insurance or it could be health insurance.
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Here is some background on a moderate head injury. Take a look at this list and tell yourself how many of these symptoms does your wife honestly still have.
How hard did she hit her head? It sounds like a pretty hard whack. So, let’s first address that topic of the most significant potential injury, your wife's traumatic brain injury. Research that term, and especially post concussive syndrome and you will see some of the symptoms of that condition. My bet is that you wife DOES HAVE A MODERATE BRAIN INJURY.
Let’s first examine what is a concussion and what is a loss of consciousness. She DID HAVE A CONCUSSION, that much is for sure, since she hit her head. So traumatic brain injury is in play in your wife's claim since she suffered a brain concussion.
Post-concussion syndrome, also known as post concussive syndrome or PCS, is a set of symptoms that a person may experience for weeks, months, or even years after a concussion, a mild form of traumatic brain injury. As many as 50% of patients who have experienced concussion have PCS, and some sources say as many as 90% of patients experience post concussion symptoms. People who have had concussions may experience physical, mental, or emotional symptoms. Symptoms can appear immediately or weeks to months after the initial injury.
Physical symptoms can include:
• headache
• dizziness
• impaired balance
• nausea and/or vomiting
• fatigue or sleepiness
• inability to sleep
• decreased libido
• sensitivity to noise or light
• ringing in the ears
• double or blurred vision
• decreased sense of taste, smell, or hearing
Emotional symptoms may include:
• irritability
• anxiety
• restlessness
• depression
• lack of emotion
• emotional lability or mood swings
• lack of ability to tolerate stress or alcohol
• aggression
Cognitive or mental symptoms can include:
• amnesia or difficulty remembering things
• confusion or impaired cognition
• impaired judgment
• slowed cognitive processing
• difficulty with abstract thinking
• difficulty concentrating
• decrease in work performance
• decrease in social skills
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TMJ—temporomandibular joint syndrome: possible source for any HEADACHES.
This is another term I want you to research. When an accident victim strikes her head, there is a good possibility that the disc in the condyle, or jaw joint disc, can be displaced. One of the consequences of jaw joint displacement is headaches. All too often in my practice, the doctors treated headaches as having originated from cervical problems, when in fact, they were due to a TMJ.
http://www.lectlaw.com/med/med04.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporomandibular_joint_disorder
http://www.tmjdoctorofmaryland.com/
There are two at-home ways to see if your jaw joint is moving. First, find the spot in front of the little lobes on the middle of your ears. These are called “tragus”: http://www.infovisual.info/03/048_en.html
Now, put your fingers just in front of your wife's tragus and over the jaw joint and open and close your mouth. If the disc is far out of place, you will feel a click. Better is for someone to stand behind her as she is seated and perform the same test. You can feel the click if her jaw joint disc is far out of place.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT REFERRALS: If you feel that she does have any of these symptoms and they are of some significance, I WOULD INSIST UPON TREATMENT for them ASAP. It is best to get her general practitioner to refer her, but you can self-refer if you have to. Your attorney can also be a source of information on good specialists. Here is what you would need: a neuropsychologist to test and to treat the mild brain injury. That is where the big mental help will come from, and of course that is where the BIG INSURANCE SETTLEMENT DOLLARS come from also.
As for the TMJ, a dentist who specializes in that field would be a lot better than an ordinary dentist. The TMJ specialist is adept at diagnosis and treatment, and of course, at making records that will help in making a good insurance settlement.
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Finding a good attorney can be difficult, but here is one tip: make sure that the attorney is a member of her state trial lawyers association http://www.settlementcentral.com/links.php
AND you MUST HAVE an attorney who has EXPERIENCE on brain injury and TMJ cases. Insist upon that information being furnished over the phone before you EVER go in for an appointment.
Best wishes for a smooth and quick recovery from your wife's many injuries.
I trust that my time here has produced some information that has been of value to you, and thus I would respectfully request that you take the time to locate the FEEDBACK FORM on this site and leave some feedback for me.
Best Wishes,
Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
http://www.SettlementCentral.Com
