Why Can I Lose An Eye In A Car Accident In North Carolina?
Key Highlights:
- A crash can lead to an eye injury car accident NC, or an injury to the nerve or brain behind the eye.Â
- Retinal detachment car accident, and globe rupture are emergencies; delaying treatment will cause blindness.Â
- Floaters, flashes, and a curtain effect are the warning signs that should never be ignored.Â
- Loss of an eye impairs depth perception, driving ability, and work capacity.
- The valuation of losing an eye compensation claims goes beyond the emergency room visit.
Why Can I Lose an Eye in a Car Accident in North Carolina?Â
A car accident can blind you in a split second, from a shattered windshield, from the deployment of an airbag, or by injuring the eye itself or the optic nerve that leads to it. Some eye injuries are emergencies, with only hours making the difference between losing sight forever and saving it.Â
This article describes how eye injury car accident NC occurs, what happens when they do, and what it means for a claim.
My name is Robert Tatum, and I’m an attorney with Tatum & Atkinson Law Firm. Being in the business of helping people through our veteran-owned law firm since 2006, we have more than 65 years of experience in handling eye injury car accidents in North Carolina. If you lose vision in any car accident in the future, you know who to turn to.
Injuries the Eye Sustains in a Collision
The following are the injuries that are the direct result of a car accident causing eye trauma.
Blunt Trauma by Airbags, Steering Wheels, and Dashboards
An airbag inflates in an instant at a close distance, while the face might hit the steering wheel and the dashboard, injuring internal parts of the eye without breaking the skin.
Foreign Material and Projectile Objects
There is a risk of shattering of the windscreen that can cut through the cornea of the eye, or flying fragments of the car interior may get stuck inside the eyeball.
Fracture of the Orbital Bones
Thin orbital bones protect the eye and sustain injuries when absorbing the shock; the eye muscles and the optic nerve behind the eye socket can become trapped in the fracture.
Damage to the Optic Nerve and Visual Processing Areas of the Brain
The function of vision is performed by the whole visual pathway, not only the eye, so brain injury can cause optic nerve damage accident without visible damage to the eye.
The Injuries that Really Take Away Your Vision
Which of the above injuries could cause complete loss of vision? Here are some of them.
Retinal Detachment
The retina, which is a light-sensitive membrane on the back of the eye, detaches itself from its blood. This is usually seen as flashes of light, floaters, or shadows, and needs surgical intervention. The speed with which it is done determines the amount of vision restored in a retinal detachment car accident.
Globe Rupture
It may involve tearing of the wall of the eyeball due to impact from a sharp object, and lead to eye pain, vision loss car crash, and leakage of fluids. Treatment involves an eye shield and urgent surgery, but not eye drops.
Traumatic Optic Neuropathy
It may result from compression, stretching, or shear damage to the optic nerve, causing an optic nerve damage accident. Although the injury appears insignificant, the outcome is generally guarded.
Corneal Laceration and Hyphema
These refer to cutting injuries on the transparent surface of the eye and bleeding inside the eye chamber, respectively.
Time Is Vision; Why Those First Hours Count
When it comes to the most severe eye injury car accident NC, time is the enemy. The longer a detached retina lacks its source of nourishment, the less sight surgery will be able to restore, while an open globe injury must be repaired within 24 hours in order to prevent infection and irreversible damage.Â
This is why the American Academy of Ophthalmology classifies them as emergencies. Post-crash vision problems like loss of sight, new floaters, flashing lights, a curtain of darkness, eye pain, and blood in the eye point straight to the ER.
Vision Loss and Living with It Post-Crash
How to live once you have sustained eye injuries?
One Eye and a Distorted Sense of Space
An eye loss means a loss of depth perception. Estimating distance while driving, working, or climbing stairs is more difficult, as is the strain put upon the other eye.
Blindness and the End of Independence
Partially or completely losing one’s sight can ruin a career and life in general, being unable to drive, read, or manage one’s home, resulting in vision loss car crash consequences.
Emotional Impact
The sudden loss of one’s vision and, in the worst cases, an eye loss, followed by an adaptation to a prosthesis, is accompanied by sorrow, fear, and depression. This is one of the components of the damage that has to be considered.
Claims for Vision Loss Caused by Car Accidents in North Carolina
In NC, you may make the following vision loss-related claims from car accidents.
Damages Available in Your Claim
Compensation includes such things as medical expenses, future costs, income losses, diminished earning capacity, pain and suffering, and permanent disability or disfigurement. In case of losing an eye compensation, future care, and lost earning damages are frequently the largest elements.
How Vision Loss Cases are Assessed
Lawyers work with treating ophthalmologists, life care planners, and economists to calculate lifetime costs of future care and diminished earning capacity in current dollars, the sum that must be satisfied through a fair settlement.
Pure Contributory Negligence and the Statute of Limitations
Due to the application of the North Carolina rule of contributory negligence, the proof of the fault of the other party is essential because recovery is impossible even if a person was 1% responsible for the accident. Most claims must be filed within three years under the law.
Vision Loss Due To An NC Car Wreck? Speak With Tatum & Atkinson
Vision loss car crash, partial or complete in one eye, rapidly changes your life; you will be receiving medical bills before you have had time to adjust. You do not need to figure out the claim while in treatment; learning about the components of that claim is absolutely free.Â
Since 2006, North Carolina catastrophic injury lawyer team at Tatum & Atkinson has been defending seriously injured victims throughout North Carolina from our Raleigh law offices. The Heavy Hitters litigate catastrophic car accident injuries, working with ophthalmologists, life care planners, and economists to calculate the true cost of losing an eye compensation and understanding how the 1 percent rule applies to the severely injured.Â
Contact us at (800) 529-0804 for a free case evaluation. We work on a contingency basis, and there is never a fee unless we get you money; your first call is absolutely free.
FAQs: Why Can I Lose an Eye in a Car Accident in North Carolina?
Are eye-injury symptoms always obvious right after a crash?
No, you can have a retina that has slowly begun to separate, internal bleeding, and/or post-trauma swelling that may not become noticeable until hours or even days later, so if you are experiencing floaters, flashing lights and blurry vision after a car accident, even if you didn’t feel that something was wrong immediately after the automobile accident, you need to be examined by an eye doctor.
Is losing sight in one eye really a serious injury for a claim?
Yes, monocular vision will affect depth perception/perception, driving ability, and work/occupational functions for a lifetime. Losing an eye compensation claims are regarded as a serious and permanent disability, not a minor one that will eventually be recovered from.
Can I still recover if I was partly at fault?
In North Carolina, being 1% responsible means that you cannot recover at all. Proving liability in a collision is step #1 in any eye injury car accident NC lawsuit.
What does hiring a lawyer cost?
No charge is incurred by you. These types of cases are represented by a North Carolina catastrophic injury lawyer on a contingent basis, and therefore you do not have to pay attorney fees until you recover damages, and no money is due before the first meeting with your lawyer (that is complimentary).
What signs of eye injuries after a car accident should not be ignored?
Blindness, flashing lights, spots floating before the eyes, black spots in vision, eye pain, or bleeding from the eye can be symptoms of eye injury car accident NC. One needs to get immediate medical attention, as early treatment may prevent vision loss car crash consequences.
