A driver rear-ended an Athens man on the Loop in Athens, Georgia, aggravating a pre-existing condition in his lower back that required years of treatment – and the need for future medical care. Our Athens car accident lawyer secured a $350,000 settlement for him, which was six times the amount of his medical bills.
Case Summary
Location: Athens, Georgia (Georgia State Route 10 Loop)
Type of Accident: Rear-end collision
Injuries: Aggravation of pre-existing condition in lower back
Medical Treatment: Physical therapy, epidural steroid injections, MRIs, aquatic therapy, massage and pain management
Medical Bills: About $50,000
Settlement Amount: $350,000
The Crash on the Loop
Our client was sitting in rush hour traffic on the Georgia State Route 10 Loop when another driver who wasn’t paying attention crashed into the back of his car.
The impact totaled his car, even breaking his seatback. Police cited the other driver for following too closely in violation of O.C.G.A. § 40-6-49 and the insurance company later accepted responsibility for the crash.
A Long Course of Medical Care
Our client thought he was fine after the accident. However, his lower back began hurting later in the day and when he woke up the next morning he was in severe pain. He went to his primary care doctor, who diagnosed him with lower back strains / sprains, prescribed him prescription medication and recommended that he follow up with an orthopedist if his back didn’t get better.
Our client’s back pain didn’t improve and he began having pain radiate into his buttocks, legs and foot, which is a sign of a herniated disc. He went to see a doctor at Athens Orthopedic Clinic, who ordered an MRI of his lower back. It showed:
- L4-5: a bulging disc compressing the thecal sac, which protects the nerves in the spinal cord, and causing stenosis
- L5-S1: a herniated disc compressing the spinal cord and causing stenosis
In the months and years that followed, doctors tried multiple treatments to help his low back pain. Over time, he received:
- Prescription medication
- Months of physical therapy and aquatic therapy
- Multiple lumbar epidural steroid injections, which is where a steroid is injected into the spinal canal to help calm down the nerves and make them less painful
- Dry needling
- Medical massage
When his pain didn’t improve much, his doctors recommended surgery.
He sought a second opinion from a neurosurgeon. The doctor advised that he did not recommend surgery and that he should focus on pain management and strengthening his back and core muscles through physical therapy, which would help with his lower back pain.
Our client focused on physical therapy and continued having epidural steroid injections in his lower back and his pain finally improved to a manageable level. However, his doctors advised him that he would likely need to continue an exercise routine to maintain his lower back and core muscles and that he would likely continue to need epidural steroid injections 3-4 times per year to control his lower back pain.
Car Accident Aggravated Pre-existing Condition
In car accident cases where MRIs show herniated discs or bulging discs, it is often unclear whether the collision caused the herniations / bulges or they were already there and the collision aggravated them and made them painful. And in our client’s case, doctors were uncertain whether the bulge and herniation were there before the wreck or caused by it.
However, Georgia law allows a person to recover compensation when a wreck aggravates a pre-existing condition. We secured testimony from our client’s doctor that he was active and healthy with no back pain before the collision and that the accident aggravated the conditions in his lower back, making them painful and symptomatic and requiring treatment.
Cost of Future Treatment
We also secured testimony from our client’s pain management doctor that he was likely to need 3-4 lumbar epidural steroid injections per year to help manage his lower back pain.
We then retained a life care planner to estimate the future cost of the epidurals and presented this evidence to the defense.
The evidence of our client’s need for future medical treatment and its cost was crucial in winning a settlement that was six times our client’s medical bills.
Injured in a Car Accident in Athens?
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