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Personal Injury Can Be Residual

There are, unfortunately, a variety of ways in which you can become injured in an auto accident. Some injuries are of the temporary sort, such as a broken arm, and with proper medical care, a full recovery is possible and you can get on with your life exactly as before. Others, more tragically, can forever change the way you live your life, like the loss of a limb, or one of your senses such as hearing or sight.

But then there are other injuries that fall around the “middle” of these two extremes. They are not temporary, in that they are injuries you will have to live with for the rest of your life, but they are not so extreme that they may fundamentally alter every facet of your daily life. In these cases, we have what are called “residual” permanent injuries, and they can still play a role if you want a lawyer for car crash to handle your case.

Living With Consequences


If you suffer through a car accident and have reminders of it such as permanent scarring, this can have a big impact on your life, especially your social life if you are still single and looking for a relationship. Depending on the visibility and placement of the scar, such disfigurements can have a huge, permanent impact on the quality of your emotional and social life, and this type effect can play a major factor in assigning an amount in a personal injury lawsuit. This is especially true for younger people, such as children, that may now have to spend their lives as a target of avoidance or ridicule due to scarring.

In other cases, a residual injury may be less visible but no less traumatizing in its effect. Injuries to your back, spinal cord, disc or other parts of your body may not cripple you, but they may permanently affect your mobility, or afflict you with life-long pain and discomfort. In these cases, you may still get on with your life, but at much greater difficulty and convenience, though this is something that you now simply have to live with.

Making Note


Documentation is the most important thing you can do when you are informed of a residual injury. In the case of scarring, it may be less necessary, since a scar is visible to anyone. For other injuries that are less obvious, such as mobility issues, chronic pain and other residual effects, the best thing you can do is ensure that a doctor marks down on medical record the presence of residual injuries. If you’re not sure, ask your doctor about the likelihood that certain injuries after an accident may develop into residual injuries, and take the time to have the observations marked down on your medical record.

This kind of medical documentation is critical for your lawyer for car crash or other personal injury lawyer to use on your behalf when seeking a resolution in court. If you come to us, the staff at The St. Pete Lawyer can take all your evidence and medical records and get you the compensation you deserve after an accident.