Mrs. S was driving on Oglethorpe Avenue in Athens, Georgia when another driver crashed into her. The wreck totaled her car and injured her neck, requiring her to undergo cervical fusion surgery. Attorney Michael Ruppersburg secured a $300,000 settlement for her injured neck, which was the policy limit of the other driver’s insurance.
The Accident
Mrs. S was stopped waiting for the car in front of her to make a left hand turn. The driver behind her wasn’t paying and crashed into her. The impact pushed Mrs. S’s car into the car in front of her, damaging it too. The wreck did over $19,000 worth of damage to her car and the insurance company totaled it out. The police found the other driver at fault and gave her a ticket for following too closely so fault wasn’t an issue in this case.
Injuries and Treatment
Mrs. S initially thought she was fine. But when she woke up the next day, she was in a lot of pain. Her shoulder, neck, and back hurt. She tried to manage the pain by taking aspirin and ibuprofen but when she was still hurting after several days went to see a local orthopedist. The doctor diagnosed her with a strain/sprain of her neck, gave her prescription anti-inflammatories and a Medrol DosePak, which is a steroid to help treat inflammation, and told her to come back and see him in two weeks if she was still having problems.
Mrs. S’s neck, unfortunately, did not get better. The pain in her neck started going into her arms and hands, which is a sign of a herniated disc, so she went back to see the orthopedist. He recommended physical therapy and gave her an epidural, which is where the doctor injects a steroid into the epidural space in her spine to try to calm down the inflammation and the nerves in her spinal cord.
While the epidural and physical therapy helped, the pain did not go away. The doctor then ordered an MRI. It showed a herniated disc in her neck at the C4-5 level that was pressing on her spinal cord and causing the pain that she was having. The doctor told her that since medication, epidurals and physical therapy did not help, she unfortunately needed surgery to fix it.
Mrs. S decided to undergo the surgery, which involved removing the herniated disc, inserting a metal cage into the space where the disc had been, and then fusing the discs above and below the cage using a metal plate and screws.
The surgery went well, and Mrs. S made a good recovery, but it involved several months of no activity followed by months of physical therapy to regain her strength and range of motion.
The Settlement
The other driver had $300,000 in insurance with American Family Insurance. We sent them a settlement demand for their policy limits, which they agreed to pay. We’re glad to have helped Mrs. S and wish her the best in her recovery.