Most people who suffer from broken bones bounce back relatively quickly. Your body starts healing a broken bone as soon as medical professionals set and stabilize the fracture. Still, depending on the severity of the break, your age and other underlying medical factors, it could be a year or even longer before you fully recover from a broken bone.
During that time, you may accrue a lot of medical bills and lose out on wages if you can’t work. For some people, a fracture will leave lasting symptoms even after the break heals. Decreased range of motion, reduced strength and ongoing low-grade pain are all potential consequences of a severe broken bone after a car crash. Those symptoms might affect your lifetime earning potential and quality of life.
Blue-collar workers have an elevated risk for financial losses in a crash
Those who have already retired and those who work in a professional setting like an office may not suffer any long-term earning losses because of injuries from a crash, even if those injuries are severe. However, when you depend on your body to earn your living, a broken bone could drastically limit your earning potential.
You may not be able to do the same job during your convalescence, which could last for months. Even after you heal and complete physical therapy, you may have less strength, flexibility and stamina than you previously did, making your former job responsibilities too hard to continue performing all day.
You may have to take less physical jobs that offer lower pay. The worse the fracture is and the more demanding your job, the greater the potential for lifetime learning losses because of a car crash injury.
Consider potential job impacts before accepting a settlement
When an insurance company offers you enough compensation to cover your projected time off of work while you heal and your medical costs, you might want to accept that and move on with your life. However, if you later discover that your annual income goes down substantially because of the car crash, you will have a few options for recourse at that point.
Considering any settlement offer carefully with an eye toward the long-term financial implications of your crash-related injury can help you avoid a situation in which you unintentionally limit your own right to compensation.
