In this article, we’ll discuss what to do if your child was injured in a Denver car accident caused by a negligent driver and how you can get compensation. The best way to go about getting your child the financial and other compensation they deserve is by working with a skilled Denver personal injury lawyer. This will guarantee your child gets fair and proper financial coverage to cover things like medical bills, emotional trauma, pain and suffering, and rehabilitation.
Children Are More Susceptible to Get Severely Injured in a Car Collision
Some common injuries we see small children suffer are
- Whiplash
- Sprains and strains
- Broken bones
- Bruising and deep lacerations
- Emotional trauma and PTSD
What Do I Do After My Child Has Been Injured in a Denver Car Accident?
The first thing to do is get medical attention as soon as possible. With any collision, you need to call the police (and an ambulance if necessary) to ensure the safety of the injured child.
Keep these critical steps in mind if you find yourself involved in a car accident and your child gets injured:
- If your child is seriously injured (e.g., unconscious, bleeding profusely, seemingly in excruciating pain, has a dislocated or crushed limb, etc) call emergency medical responders ASAP. in other words, call 911. They will dispatch police and an ambulance.
- Stay close to your child and keep giving them comfort. Make them feel safe and tell them everything will be ok. Depending on the age of your child, they may be unable to regulate or process what’s happening and could very well be in a state of shock, or be unconscious. The same goes for an adult, but children are more vulnerable to having overwhelming fear and stress reactions to an unexpected and tragic event like a motor vehicle collision. If you have a very young child, don’t remove them from their car or booster seat as this could worsen their injuries. Wait for the first responders to arrive on scene and perform a medical and professional evacuation of the injured child.
- Get to a hospital as soon as possible or have the EMTs perform whatever life-saving medical practices necessary to save your child[s life or prevent their injuries from worsening. Sometimes the symptoms of internal injuries like TBI or internal bleeding are not immediately or obviously apparent. Therefore, you need to get your child checked and screened as soon as possible. Sometimes car accident injures also present delayed symptoms so they might be injured without either of you knowing it. Lastly, if your child is very young, they may not be able to verbally communicate their pain or what they are feeling, so just get them medical attention to be sure it doesn’t get worse and their life and safety are secured.
- Get a new car seat. Even if there is no visible damage, the impact of a collision can damage a car seat to the extent that it no longer serves or performs its intended degree of safety measures. This is an expense you can claim from the negligent party’s insurance company.
- Get a lawyer.
Our Denver Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help You File a Claim for Your Child’s Injuries
The parents will be the guardians who handle the legal case and make the decisions for the child. Both parents should sign off on the attorney contract. It doesn’t matter if one parent has primary custody or not, both parents need to consent. The money will be safeguarded for the child anyway, so there should not be any concerns.
There’s one caveat when we’re talking about a minor injury victim. Once your child’s case is settled, it’s not completely settled. The settlement then needs to get approved by a judge if the amount exceeds a certain dollar amount. If it’s a significant settlement, the judge might make a ruling to hold the settlement money in a trust fund or some other annuity to secure the money and distribute it to the minor in increments throughout their life. This is standard procedure and happens most of the time when money is awarded to an underaged minor in a civil case.
Children Are More Likely to Experience Greater Emotional Trauma and PTSD After a Car Accident than Adults
Children are still developing – physically, emotionally, and mentally and are more sensitive from a biological standpoint. Their experience of a traumatic car accident will be vastly different than that of an adult who is fully physically developed and can recover in a shorter time period – this goes for emotional and psychological recovery as well.
Car crashes happen suddenly and involve loud sounds and flying pieces of debris, which can be a terrifying experience for anyone, but even more so for a child. That alone is enough to affect a child’s long-term mental well-being, regardless of how severely they were injured. They may go on to have a lifelong fear of riding in cars or have nightmares and flashbacks of the incident. Statistics show that young children are more vulnerable to experiencing more intense and longer duration of PTSD after experiencing a motor vehicle collision.
If your child is displaying symptoms of PTSD after a car accident, it’s just as important to get them mental health treatment as it is to get physical medical treatment. You can also seek financial reimbursement for mental health services that are related to accident trauma that your child endured.
Symptoms of Ptsd to Watch for in Children After a Car Accident
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that occurs after a person experiences a traumatic event. That can be anything from physical violence to witnessing a disturbing altercation or a car accident. The symptoms of PTSD the child experiences will vary based on their age and maturity, but are never easy for the child or the parents to handle.
In the case of car collisions, children can experience extreme cases of PTSD and traumatization. Symptoms to watch out for if you believe your child may be experiencing PTSD include:
- The onset of bedwetting whereas they didn’t do so before the accident
- Behavioral changes including social reclusion
- Anxiety and depression
- Sudden fears they didn’t’ have before (e.g., of the dark, riding in cars, certain situations)
- Acting out
- Sudden outbursts of anger and inability to control emotions
- Having nightmares about the accident or insomnia
- Headaches
- Loss of enjoyment in activities they used to like
- Changes in school performance or dropping grades
- Not wanting to go to school
- Fear of driving or riding in cars
If your child is showing signs of PTSD, contact our Denver car accident lawyer today for help, as we want to make sure we get your child the treatment they need in order to go on and live normal lives as adults. Children are particularly susceptible to develop mental health conditions that worsen if they don’t get proper treatment.
Treatment for Car Accident Related PTSD in Children
Although it can be stressful and scary to watch your child experience PTSD with severe physical injuries, on the bright side, if you detect it early on, it’s treatable and curable.
Treatment for pediatric or adolescent PTSD may entail
- CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy)
- Talk therapy
- Art therapy
- Play therapy (usually used with very young children)
- Medication
- Or a mix of several of the above
Can I Recover Financial Compensation for My Child’s Car Accident PTSD?
It can be hard to gather evidence or prove that your child has PTSD after a car accident, especially if they are too young to communicate the extent of how big their emotions are. Insurance companies are often skeptical of child cases of PTSD and will try to reduce or even deny claims simply because the injury victim is a child and use the excuse that PTSD is not compensable damage.
However, this is a real damage that can affect a child’s entire life course, and you can seek justice, or at the very least financial recompense for their pain and suffering. Through the help of a skilled attorney and sometimes expert testimony from mental health and medical professionals, you can build a solid case with strong evidence to support your child’s case and prove their emotional distress and pain and suffering.
How Our Denver Car Accident Lawyers Can Help You
If your child was injured in a Denver car accident because of a negligent driver, we’re here to help you get the money you need for their treatment and recovery.
Call us today for a free consultation.
