Did you lose your spleen as the result of a car accident?
Did you lose your spleen as the result of a car accident?
No one can predict what someone will endure during a car accident. Some people may go through accidents that seem horrific due to the crunched metal and multiple vehicles involved but are fortunate enough to walk away without injuries. Other individuals may suffer severe injuries that need emergency medical care. Unfortunately, you fell into the latter category.
Though you have always done your best to drive safely, you could not avoid the accident that led to your recent internal injury. Another driver may have allowed distraction or recklessness to cloud his or her good judgment and, as a result, caused an accident that left you seriously injured. Now, you have to determine how to move forward.
Emergency attention
After the accident, you may have immediately known something was wrong. You may have felt dizzy and nauseous or possibly even like you would faint. At first, you may have thought those feelings stemmed from the shock of the accident itself, but you then also noticed pain in your abdomen on the left side under your rib cage or maybe even pain in your left shoulder.
You may not have known it at the time, but the accident caused you to suffer damage to your spleen and caused internal bleeding. A drop in blood pressure from that bleeding may have caused your feelings of dizziness and lightheadedness. Emergency medical personnel likely took precautions and transported you to the emergency room right away.
Diagnosis and surgery
In order to properly determine your injury, medical professionals may have conducted a CT scan, MRI or ultrasound of the area. After making the diagnosis, doctors may have told you that you needed emergency surgery in order to remove your spleen. You may have certainly felt panicked at the thought of losing an organ, but doctors may have reassured you that you can live without your spleen. As a result, you went under the knife and had your spleen removed.
Aftermath
Though removing your spleen likely saved your life or at least prevented further harm, it does not mean that you will not experience lasting effects. Because you no longer have a spleen to provide protection from infections, you face a greater risk of life-threatening complications if you do contract an infection, and you will face this risk for the rest of your life. As a result, you may need to make changes in your life to be more cautious and avoid unnecessary exposure to bacteria.
Because suffering a ruptured spleen is a life-changing injury, you may face numerous hardships as you adjust. On top of that, you will likely have significant medical bills to address relating to your emergency surgery and follow-up care. Because the injury-causing accident was caused by another driver, you may have reason to file a personal injury claim against that driver in order to seek compensation for damages permitted under Louisiana law.
