Car Wreck Injuries In Texas

With millions of miles of highways, roads, and streets, and a population of almost thirty million, it is no wonder that so many people are killed or injured in car wrecks in Texas. According to statistics compiled by the Texas Department of Transportation, in 2021 a car wreck was reported every 57 seconds of every day. That year, tragically, there were 4,489 deaths and 19,448 serious injuries. In all, almost half a million people reported being injured in a car wreck in Texas. These numbers include people in vehicles, people on motorcycles and bicycles, and pedestrians.

In almost 45 years as an attorney, I have had experience in just about every type of accident and just about every type of injury imaginable. The experienced attorney knows that some types of injuries do not appear obvious at first, or, sometimes, do not appear to be related to the accident. Experience helps in knowing when the client’s treating physician may have failed to recognize a spinal injury, brain injury, nerve injury, or internal injury. Not only must the attorney learn to look for such injuries, he must learn what type of medical specialists and what type of diagnostics are best for diagnosing and treating the suspected injury.

Even the obvious injuries, such as broken bones, contusions, cuts, abrasions, and joint trauma, require knowledge and experience on the part of the attorney in order to ensure the client is getting the proper medical treatment. After all, some doctors are better than others. I constantly review medical records and regularly talk to my clients to make sure the doctor is being aggressive in diagnosing injuries properly and in prescribing the most advanced treatments. As an example, I once called a client into my office to discuss her medical progress. She showed me some bumps on her forehead where broken glass had penetrated her skin at the time of the car wreck. She said even though the emergency room doctor had taken out some pieces of glass on the day of the accident, one year later she still had bumps and felt pain. She said she had expressed this to her doctor, and he had told her this was normal, and she would heal with time. I told her this was NOT normal and referred her to a plastic surgeon who immediately upon examination found she still had some pieces of glass under her skin and removed them that same day. Had I not stayed on top of her medical progress and had I not advised her to go to another doctor, who knows how much longer my client would have suffered.