Philadelphia Bone Fracture Attorney

Broken bones (fractures) are some of the most common and painful injuries seen today and can result from any number of circumstances. The average person will suffer two bone fractures in a lifetime, and depending upon the location and severity, they can have serious after-effects and cause long-term complications.

People who suffer a fractured bone as the result of another party’s reckless actions need to be aware of their legal rights. A bone fracture case functions around the basics of personal injury law. Your attorney will need to prove negligence on the part of the defendant. This means establishing that the defendant had a duty of care to act with reasonable safety. Examples would be motorists being required to adhere to traffic laws and employers furnishing their employees with a hazard-free workplace.

If the other party violates this duty of care by some action, and that breach of duty directly caused your injuries, you should not have to bear the costs alone. You may recoup your medical expenses, the cost of ongoing treatments and physical therapy, as well as your pain and suffering through a personal injury lawsuit. Every case and every injury is different, so your legal counsel needs to be well-versed in the types of bone fractures and how they occur.

Causes Of Broken Bones

Fractured bones can occur in a wide variety of ways. At Ciccarelli Law Offices, our team has extensive experience helping bone fracture victims recover compensation after various types of incidents that occur in the Philadelphia area. Some of the most common ways that our clients sustain broken bone injuries include the following:

• Car accidents
• Commercial trucking accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Construction or workplace accidents
• Dog bite incidents
• Slip and fall accidents
• Defective product incidents
• Hospital or nursing home falls

This is certainly not a complete list of the ways that broken bones occur in and around the Philadelphia metro area. Anytime the careless or negligent actions of another individual, company, or entity lead to a person sustaining a broken bone, the victim should be able to recover compensation for their losses. 

If you are unsure about whether or not your injury could give rise to an insurance claim or a personal injury lawsuit against another party, we encourage you to reach out to an attorney for assistance as soon as possible. Your lawyer can examine the situation and the evidence presented and help guide you toward the best path forward.

Symptoms of a Broken Bone

Not all symptoms of a broken bone will be exactly alike. Of course, there are obvious symptoms, such as deformities or even broken skin caused by severe fractures. And these cases, individuals generally know that they have sustained an injury and will seek medical care. However, some symptoms of a broken bone are not always as obvious.

Symptoms of fractured bones can manifest in a range of ways. Aside from miss misshapen joints or obvious deformities, some of the most common symptoms associated with these injuries include:

• Swelling, bruising, or bleeding
• Intense pain
• Numbness or tingling, particularly at the lower ends of the extremities
• Limited movement or the inability to move a limb
• Inability to put weight on a leg

If you believe that you have sustained any type of bone fracture, we encourage you to go to the emergency room or your primary care physician as soon as possible so a diagnosis can be made. Almost certainly, a doctor or another medical professional will order an X-ray so they can gain a clearer picture of the extent of the injury.

Types of Fractures

Bones fracture in many ways, depending on the force of the blow, the direction of the impact, and the affected area.

• Greenstick fractures occur most often with children whose bones have not fully developed. These fractures are incomplete, and the bone is bent.
• Simple fractures are clean breaks through the entirety of the bone. Transverse fractures describe breaks that are perpendicular to the bone’s large axis and oblique fractures curve.
• Stress fractures are hairline cracks in the bones that do not result in complete breakage.
• Pathologic fractures are caused by diseases that weaken bones, such as osteoporosis.
• Comminuted fractures describe breaks in which the bone is broken into pieces, and typically must be repaired with steel pins, rods, and screws to put the pieces back into place.
• Impacted fractures describe breaks from bones being driven into each other.
• Compound fractures are severe breaks in which the broken bone protrudes through the skin, resulting in an open wound. Compound fractures require immediate medical intervention.

Depending on the age of the victim, which bone is broken, how it broke, and how severe the fracture is, recuperation will vary. Serious compound fractures increase the risk of deep infections. Minor breaks in younger people will typically heal much faster than with older victims. Any bone fracture will require time to heal and may involve continued operations, physical therapy, and rehabilitation for the affected areas. If your injury was the result of a vehicle accident, please reach out to our accident attorneys in Philadelphia. 

How To Prove Fault in A Fracture Injury

Determining fault after a broken bone incident can be challenging but is certainly not impossible. The dynamics of determining liability after these incidents will depend on several factors, including the nature of how the injury occurred, the severity of the injury, the amount of evidence available, etc. 

First, we want to review the four elements of negligence that must be present if you move forward with a personal injury lawsuit against another party:

1. A Duty of Care – It must first be established that there was some type of duty of care owed by the defendant (the person who allegedly caused the injury) to the plaintiff (the injury victim) at the time the injury occurred. Depending on the nature of the incident, a duty of care will look different. For example, drivers owe a duty to others around them when they get behind the wheel of their vehicle. This duty includes operating the vehicle safely and within the confines of traffic law. However, the duty of care owed by a playground owner and operator to parents and children looks different. This duty follows premises liability law and involves the owner or operator maintaining the area and warning guests of any hazards.
2. A Breach of Duty – After establishing that a duty of care existed between the defendant and plaintiff, it must be shown that the defendant breached their duty of care somehow. Again, a breach will look different depending on what type of incident we are discussing. A vehicle accident that occurred because of distracted driving would likely constitute a breach of duty by the defendant. If a playground owner or operator fails to fix a broken slide or monkey bar set, this could be a breach of duty.
3. Causation – The next step is showing that there was a direct link between the breach of duty and the broken bone that occurred. Establishing this causation involves showing the insurance carrier or a personal injury jury how the breach of duty caused the injury.
4. Damages Sustained – Finally, it must be shown that the plaintiff sustained some sort of monetary loss as a result of the injury. This can include medical bills, lost wages, and even pain and suffering damages. 

Proving fault after these incidents involves gathering as much evidence as possible. This can include photographs taken at the scene of the incident, video surveillance footage, statements from eyewitnesses, and more. Additionally, determining fault may involve obtaining property owner records or safety records for a defective product.

We encourage you to reach out to a skilled Philadelphia fractures lawyer who can walk you through this process and help determine liability on your behalf.

Damages Available In A Fracture Injury Claim

There may be various types of compensation available to individuals if their claim against an at-fault party is successful. For a fracture injury, our team will work to recover both economic and non-economic damages on behalf of a client.

Economic damages after a bone fracture include expenses that are relatively calculable, usually because there are receipts or bills that the client receives that can be added up. Some of the most common economic damages after a Philadelphia bone factor include monetary compensation for:

• Emergency medical bills
• Any ongoing medical expenses or surgeries
• Medical devices or pain medication
• Lost income if a person is unable to work while recovering
• Household out-of-pocket expenses
• Property damage expenses

Non-economic damages associated with a bone fracture focus on more immeasurable expenses a victim is likely to incur. Even though there may not be receipts or bills that can properly add up a person’s physical or emotional pain and suffering, there are ways to place a monetary value on these types of losses.

Dealing with Broken Bones

Bone fractures are painful injuries, and if they result from the careless actions of another party, the victim should not have to pay for the damages on their own. The Philadelphia injury lawyers at Ciccarelli Law Offices believe that responsible parties should be held accountable for the damage they cause, and victims should be awarded just compensation for their injuries.

Our team, including our slip and fall lawyers in Philadelphia, knows how to navigate any type of personal injury case, and we understand the process of recovering from a bone fracture. Victims should not be forced to pay the cost of medical expenses, ongoing treatments, physical therapy, or lost wages from missed time at work.

Contact A Philadelphia Bone Fracture Lawyer Today

If you’ve suffered a bone fracture in Philadelphia as the result of someone’s reckless or irresponsible actions, get in touch with the experts at Ciccarelli to start reviewing your case today. Bone fractures take time to heal, so let us handle your legal issues so you can focus on healing and getting back to your life.