During pregnancy, one of the most common causes of injuries experienced by women and their unborn babies are car accidents. Car accidents can cause a wide range of consequence for both the mother and the unborn baby. These consequences can be financially costly and cause significant pain and suffering, especially in cases when the baby is injured or lost because of the accident. Mothers-to-be want to be celebrating the arrival of their new family members, not dealing with medical consequences and legal matters. That’s where a good legal team can help. A good attorney can help you understand your legal options and how to proceed with a case.
The Extra Impacts of Car Accidents on Pregnant Women
When a pregnant woman is hurt in a car accident, she experiences extra strains that other people do not face, and these strains can cause damage to both the woman and her unborn child.
Issues to Pregnant Women
A car accident can cause a number of issues for the pregnant woman, creating a more complicated pregnancy or even causing the loss of the pregnancy altogether.
Some issues a car accident causes can include:
- Going into labor early
- Making a pregnancy high-risk
- Internal bleeding
- Birth defects
- Miscarriage
- Hemorrhaging
These consequences can have long-term impacts on both the mother and the unborn child, and some of these consequences will not appear until later. Thus, it’s important that after an accident, pregnant women get the best possible care and make sure they are checked for any issues, even if they feel okay for the most part. Even small injuries can do a lot of damage during pregnancy.
Physical Impacts on the Fetus
The womb is supposed to be a safe space for developing fetuses, allowing them protection and the chance to develop optimally. An impact on your stomach, however, can cause your placenta to separate from your uterus. This complication is called placental abruption, and it results in severe consequences during pregnancy. This issue can happen from the twentieth week of pregnancy onward. Additionally, the momentum of the accident can basically cause shaken baby syndrome while the baby is still in the womb. Lots of injuries can happen to a pregnant woman that compromises the woman herself and the pregnancy, which is why getting the appropriate medical and legal care is so important after accidents.
Emotional Distress to the Woman
When a woman has been hurt in a car accident and is pregnant, she is going to become quite distressed because she doesn’t only have her life to worry about, but she also has to worry about the life of her unborn child. The worry over whether her pregnancy will be impacted by an accident can cause a lot of pain and suffering, worsening any injuries she already has.
Emotional Trauma’s Impact on Your Baby
The emotional trauma caused by a car accident doesn’t just impact the pregnant person, but it can also have an impact on the baby. Even an accident that isn’t that severe becomes more severe when pregnancy is involved because going through emotional strain can impact the development of a fetus.
Dr. Catherine Monk from Columbia University studied how stress during pregnancy can impact children long after birth. The development of the brain begins during pregnancy, so the mother’s body creates the very first environment a child is exposed to. Biological changes are caused by stress, such as that of a car accident, and some fetuses can react to these changes. Thus, children whose mothers were stressed during pregnancy may be at higher risk for mental health conditions like anxiety.
What to Do If You’re Pregnant and Have Been in an Accident
If you’re pregnant and have been in accident, there are several steps you can take to ensure the best health and legal outcomes. Here are some of the most important steps you can take after an accident.
- Make sure that everyone is okay, and prioritize your health in whatever way you can.
- Preserve the scene of the accident as well as you can. Only move parts of the scene if it’s necessary for the safety of either party or passersby.
- Once you have established safety, make sure to exchange information with other parties in the accident and reach out to your insurance company. This step helps facilitate valuable communication and established the basis for your claim.
- Contact emergency services. Ambulance services can make sure you get the care you need promptly, and police officers can document the scene and help establish the cause. They’ll create a file that can be used to help your case.
- Document the scene of the accident if you can. Having your own proof can be valuable in a case. Taking picture of videos of what happened can help your lawyers by providing evidence of what happened.
- Always seek medical help. Even you don’t think you are that injured, it’s essential that you get checked out. You may not notice certain injuries at first, and you’ll want to check-in with what’s going on with your baby.
- Contact an attorney. Before you deal with other parties, you’ll want to make sure you have a lawyer who can help you make the best decision based on the damages you have suffered.
- Keep all your information organized. You don’t want to lose any of your documentation or details about your case. Thus, keep one file with all your information. When you’re pregnant, life becomes pretty hectic, so save yourself some trouble by keeping your case documents all in one place.
When you take these small steps, you build a stronger case. Your lawyer can help you assemble all of the information you get and show how you and your baby have been hurt by the accident.
What a Personal Injury Attorney in Columbus, Ohio Can Do
There are a number of things that a car accident attorney can do to help you if you have been injured because of an accident. A car accident lawyer looks at all the evidence and helps you determine what kind of financial compensation you can get based on those damages. They also help you build your case and file your claim. While an attorney will bring some cases to trial, many cases are resolved through settlement. Settlement occurs when parties come to an agreement about damages before a case reaches trial. Settlements are ideal because trials can be long and expensive for all parties involved. Thus, settlements are often an ideal choice for everyone; however, some cases do require a trial to get suitable results. A personal injury attorney helps you weight out your options and guides you to make decisions that are in your best interests.
How a Quality Firm Can Help
Personal injury lawyers in Columbus, Ohio, can help you build a case if you have been hurt in an accident while pregnant. There’s nothing anyone can do to take away the suffering you have faced if you or a loved one have been in an accident, but we can help ease some of the hardships that you must face in the aftermath. Get the best legal advice by consulting with a qualified attorney today.
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