Neck injuries are most common in car accidents.

But have you ever thought about the consequences of a cervical strain injury to someone who has a disability and who relies on his neck for his independence?

Recently I had the pleasure of representing a 75 year old man who suffered a cervical strain in a motor vehicle collision. The accident was not his fault. I learned a great deal from GG. Here is what happened.

Despite being in the middle of the van in his wheel chair with a neck support for the back of his head, our client suffered a cervical whiplash injury. This seemingly minor injury, for anyone of us healthy folks, had catastrophic consequences for our client.

Prior to the car collision, our client, GG, relied on his neck to operate his wheel chair and his power box for the same. Using a wand held between his teeth, GG was able to operate his wheel by using the wand to turn the wheel chair motorized power box on and off, steer, brake, and go by pressing various buttons with the tip of his wand.

GG also used the wand to operate the keyboard on his computer. GG used his teeth to hold a pen, write and sign checks and to hold the wand to turn pages in books while he read or to surf on the internet.  Remarkably, he was pretty independent.

Once his neck was injured, his quality of life suffered because his pain kept him from using the little source of indepence he had left, namely, his neck.

After the car accident, GG’s neck became stiff, fatigued, sore and spasming. Naturally GG had pre-existing  degenerative changes in the neck, given his over use of the neck because of his altered lifestyle after becoming a quadrapelegic at the age of 19 from polio.  Use of his neck was much  greater. Thisplaced greater stresse on his cervical joints because of his increased use than you or I would normally experience. Unfortunately, as a result of the MVA, GG’s degenerative changes were accelerated by this collision. The trauma to his neck from the whiplash injury, even with a head rest, caused him to suffer from an increase in pain, discomfort, stiffness and a greater loss of range of motion.

GG had a great vision and outlook on life. He was positive, encouraging, thankful for all we did for him and grateful for his recovery in his case.

Despite a lack of objective findings, from the third party policy limits payment from Hartford Insurance, his UM policy limit payment from State Farm and his wife’s arbitrated UM claim for damages, the total recovery was about $850,000.

Neck strains can be devastating. They can adversely affect you or a loved one depending on your lifestyle and other limitations you may have.

It was a pleasure representing such a hard working individual with such a zest for life. Every time any one of us has an ache, pain or discomfort, think twice before whining and be thankful how fortunate we all are.

Rob Kornfeld
Rob@Kornfeldlaw.com
(425) 893-8989