Bone Fractures

Broken bones are serious personal injuries, often with serious complications with life-long disabilities. High energy forces from car accidents cause broken bone injuries. A broken bone is called a “fracture.” It is like forcibly breaking a tree branch into two pieces, except the tree branch does not feel extreme pain; does not bleed; and does not swell from the traumatic force that broke it into two pieces.

Derrick suffered a bone fracture injury from an auto accident on Route 1 in Alexandria, Virginia. He was rushed by ambulance to Alexandria Hospital. The orthopedic surgeon on duty at the emergency room found symptoms consistent with a fracture. Common initial symptoms of bone fractures include:

• Extreme Pain
• Swelling
• Bruising
• Bleeding
• Deformity
• Inability to Move

Most bone fractures heal, but many times they do not heal right. The victim of a broken bone injury is often left with permanent pain, permanent stiffness and permanent disability for the rest of his life. Alexandria accident attorney, Gerald Schwartz, is an experienced Virginia bone fracture lawyer with a state-wide reputation. He has handled hundreds of bone fracture injury cases involving major complications including the following:

Malunion: A “malunion” occurs where a bone heals with a deformity including:

• Healing at an Angle
• Healing in a Rotated Position
• Healing in a Shortened Position

Recommend treatment for a malunion is internal fixation surgery.

Nonunion: Nancy broke her arm in a Fredericksburg car accident. Her doctor, at the Mary Washington Hospital, told her the fracture did not heal. A “nonunion” is where a bone fails to heal due to separation of the fracture ends, infection, or decreased blood flow. Recommended treatment for a nonunion is bone graft surgery.

Osteomyelitis: “Osteomyelitis” is a serious bone infection from an open fracture which protrudes through the skin allowing dirt, debris, and bacteria to enter the fracture.

Nerve Injury: A “nerve injury” occurs when a fractured bone fragment impinges or damages a nearby nerve. A nerve injury is most frequently seen in the ulnar, radial and median nerves in the arm and in the sciatic and peroneal nerves in the hip and low back area.

Blood Vessel Injury: Bone fracture fragments can damage nearby arteries and veins. The most frequent areas of blood vessel damage from fractures occur in the long bones of the arms and legs.

Avascular Necrosis (Osteonecrosis): A condition resulting in death and collapse of a bone caused by fracture induced loss of blood supply to the bone.

Osteoarthritis: Severely comminuted fractures, where the bone is shattered into several fragments and fractures which extend into a joint (intra-articular fractures), often result in future painful osteoarthritis.

Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS): This condition is often caused by a fracture to an arm or leg. The patient experiences daily unrelenting pain, burning, swelling, temperature changes and extreme sensitivity to touch. It is thought that the trauma from the initial healed fracture causes over-activity of the sympathetic nervous system which is responsible for the symptoms.

Alexandria, Virginia Personal Injury Attorney Gerald Schwartz has 30 years experience as a Virginia bone fracture attorney representing victims of broken bone injuries from Alexandria to Fredericksburg and all across Virginia. The Gerald Schwartz personal injury law firm has handled over 500 bone fracture cases, many with major complications. Gerald Schwartz is one of the “Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Virginia.” In May, 2011 the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association asked him to teach personal injury lawyers across Virginia “How to Maximize Recovery in Fracture Injury Cases.”

To learn more about your bone fracture injury and your legal rights, call Virginia accident lawyer Gerald Schwartz for a free consultation at 1-800-423-0055.