Miami Fracture Injury Lawyer
A broken bone may sound straightforward: diagnose the fracture, set or surgically repair it, allow time for healing, and return to normal life. Many fractures do follow that course.
Serious fractures can be very different.
A high-energy car or truck accident can shatter a bone into multiple pieces, drive bone through the skin, damage a joint, or crush an extremity along with surrounding muscles, nerves, and blood vessels. Some people require plates, screws, rods, external fixation, bone grafts, and multiple surgeries. Others develop infections, chronic pain, restricted movement, post-traumatic arthritis, or fractures that fail to heal properly.
In the most severe cases, a fracture can threaten the viability of an arm or leg and ultimately result in amputation.
Sotolongo Law represents people who have suffered serious fractures and orthopedic injuries throughout Miami, Miami-Dade and Broward County, and South Florida. Our firm handles claims involving car accidents, commercial truck crashes, medical negligence, premises liability, and other incidents caused by negligence.
Miami fracture injury lawyer Pedro P. Sotolongo has more than 20 years of personal injury legal experience and previously spent approximately five years practicing medical malpractice defense. That medical background can be particularly valuable in a complicated fracture case, where understanding orthopedic treatment, diagnostic imaging, surgical procedures, complications, and future prognosis is essential to understanding the client’s damages.
Serious Fractures After a Traumatic Accident
A fracture occurs when sufficient force causes a bone to crack or break. The severity depends on far more than which bone was injured.
A relatively simple fracture may heal with immobilization and time. High-energy trauma can produce much more complicated injuries.
A displaced fracture occurs when the broken portions of bone move out of their normal alignment. A comminuted fracture involves a bone that has broken into multiple pieces. An open or compound fracture involves a wound communicating with the fracture and presents additional concerns, including contamination and infection.
Some fractures extend into a joint surface. These intra-articular fractures can damage cartilage and alter the mechanics of a joint, potentially contributing to long-term stiffness, pain, and arthritis.
Crush injuries can be more complicated still because the damage may involve not only bone but also muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and other soft tissues.
These distinctions matter when evaluating a personal injury claim. Two people can both have a “broken leg” while facing dramatically different surgeries, recoveries, limitations, and long-term outcomes.
Fractures in Miami Car Accidents
Car accidents can generate enough force to fracture almost any bone in the body. An occupant may strike the dashboard, steering wheel, door, windshield, or another part of the vehicle. The passenger compartment may deform and trap an arm or leg. A seat belt that prevents a fatal ejection can still transmit substantial forces during a violent collision.
Common fractures in serious motor vehicle accidents can involve the arms, wrists, hands, ribs, pelvis, hips, femur, knees, lower legs, ankles, and feet. Facial and skull fractures may accompany traumatic brain injuries, while vertebral fractures can involve the neck or back.
Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, and e-bike or scooter riders can face particularly serious orthopedic trauma because there is little protection between their bodies and an approaching vehicle or the roadway.
The location of the fracture can substantially affect recovery. A person with a complex wrist fracture may lose fine motor function needed for a career. A fractured pelvis or femur can make walking difficult for months. A joint fracture may cause limitations that remain long after the bone itself has united.
Commercial Truck Accidents and Crush Fractures
Commercial truck collisions can produce devastating orthopedic injuries because of the enormous forces involved. When a tractor-trailer strikes a passenger vehicle, the smaller vehicle may be crushed, pushed into another object, or forced beneath the truck. Occupants can become trapped inside twisted metal with multiple fractures and extensive soft-tissue injuries.
Underride, override, rollover, and high-speed rear-end truck accidents can be especially destructive.
A person may suffer fractures in several areas of the body during the same collision. These injuries can require staged surgeries, prolonged hospitalization, rehabilitation, and lengthy periods away from work.
Truck accident claims may also involve more than the driver’s conduct. Depending on the circumstances, the investigation can include the motor carrier, driver qualifications, hours of service, maintenance, cargo loading, vehicle data, and other evidence.
For a victim facing multiple surgeries or permanent orthopedic limitations, identifying all responsible parties can be particularly important.
Open and Comminuted Fractures
Open and comminuted fractures illustrate why the phrase “broken bone” can understate the seriousness of an injury.
When a fracture communicates with an open wound, bacteria and other contaminants may enter the area. Doctors may need to clean damaged tissue, administer antibiotics, stabilize the fracture, and closely monitor the patient for infection.
Severe fractures can also involve loss of bone or significant damage to surrounding tissue.
Comminuted fractures present a different challenge. When a bone breaks into multiple fragments, restoring normal alignment can require complex orthopedic surgery. Plates, screws, rods, or other hardware may be used to stabilize the pieces while healing occurs.
Some patients require additional procedures to remove or revise hardware, treat infection, perform bone grafting, or address complications.
The initial X-ray therefore does not necessarily reveal the ultimate cost or impact of the injury.
Nonunion, Malunion, and Delayed Healing
A fracture does not always heal as expected.
A nonunion occurs when the broken bone fails to unite properly. A malunion occurs when the bone heals in an incorrect position. Delayed union refers to healing that takes longer than expected.
These complications can produce persistent pain, weakness, deformity, altered movement, or functional limitations.
Treatment may require additional surgery. Depending on the circumstances, surgeons may revise fixation, perform bone grafting, or use other methods intended to promote healing and restore alignment.
For someone who expected to recover within a matter of months, learning that another major operation is necessary can substantially extend both the medical and financial consequences of the accident.
A serious fracture claim should not be resolved prematurely when the medical outcome remains uncertain.
Joint Fractures and Post-Traumatic Arthritis
Fractures involving a joint can create problems long after the bone heals.
Healthy joints depend on smooth surfaces that move against each other efficiently. When trauma damages the cartilage or changes the alignment of a joint, abnormal wear may develop.
Some patients eventually experience post-traumatic arthritis, causing pain, stiffness, swelling, and reduced range of motion.
Depending on the joint and severity of the damage, future treatment can include injections, medications, therapy, arthroscopic procedures, or eventual joint replacement.
A relatively young accident victim may therefore face an important question: What will this injured knee, hip, ankle, shoulder, or other joint look like 10, 20, or 30 years from now?
When supported by the medical evidence, those future consequences should be considered before a fracture claim is resolved.
Fractures Caused or Worsened by Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice can sometimes cause an orthopedic injury or make the consequences of an existing fracture substantially worse.
Potential cases may involve a failure to timely diagnose a fracture, improper surgical repair, failure to recognize compromised blood flow, delayed treatment of an infection, or other departures from the applicable standard of care.
Missed fractures can be particularly problematic when a patient continues using an injured extremity because the original injury was not identified. Depending on the type and location of the fracture, delayed treatment may complicate healing or affect the available treatment options.
Poor results do not automatically mean malpractice occurred. Orthopedic injuries can produce complications even when physicians provide appropriate care. A malpractice case requires evidence that the healthcare provider departed from the applicable professional standard of care and that the departure caused additional injury.
Pedro P. Sotolongo’s approximately five years practicing medical malpractice defense gives him experience evaluating precisely these types of causation questions. Today, that background helps Sotolongo Law work with physicians and medical experts when representing injured patients.
Surgery, Hardware, and Rehabilitation
Complex fractures frequently require open reduction and internal fixation, often referred to as ORIF. During the procedure, surgeons restore the fractured bones to appropriate alignment and use plates, screws, rods, or other hardware to maintain stability during healing.
Other injuries may require external fixation, in which a frame outside the body is connected to the bone through pins or wires.
Surgery is often only the beginning of recovery.
After immobilization, muscles can weaken, and joints can become stiff. Physical or occupational therapy may be necessary to rebuild strength, improve range of motion, restore balance, or regain fine motor skills.
Some patients never return completely to their pre-accident level of function.
A construction worker with permanent ankle limitations faces different vocational consequences than an office worker with the same injury. A surgeon, mechanic, musician, or other professional who depends on precise hand movement may be particularly affected by a complex wrist or hand fracture.
Evaluating damages therefore requires understanding both the medical injury and the person who suffered it.
The Full Cost of a Serious Fracture
The value of a fracture claim depends on the specific facts rather than simply the name of the broken bone.
Damages can include emergency treatment, hospitalization, surgery, rehabilitation, medications, assistive equipment, and future medical care. A victim may also have lost wages and diminished future earning capacity.
Pain and physical limitations can continue after the fracture technically heals. Permanent scarring from an open fracture or surgery may also be significant.
Future treatment is especially important in complex orthopedic cases. If physicians anticipate hardware removal, additional reconstruction, treatment for arthritis, or eventual joint replacement, those potential expenses and their effect on the client’s life should be evaluated before settlement.
Sotolongo Law’s medical experience helps the firm examine those issues and work with treating physicians and other experts to present an accurate picture of the client’s injuries.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a broken bone take to heal after a car accident?
Healing time varies considerably depending on the bone involved, the type and severity of the fracture, the patient’s health, whether surgery was required, and whether complications develop. A bone may also show healing on imaging before the patient has regained full strength, mobility, or function.
What happens if my fracture does not heal correctly?
A fracture that fails to unite may be described as a nonunion, while a fracture that heals in an abnormal position may be called a malunion. Depending on the circumstances, additional surgery, bone grafting, revised fixation, or other treatment may be necessary.
Can I recover compensation for arthritis that develops after a fracture?
Post-traumatic arthritis may be relevant to damages when medical evidence connects it to the accident-related joint injury. If doctors reasonably anticipate future treatment because of arthritis, that prognosis can also be important when evaluating future damages.
What if I settle my fracture claim before my doctor knows whether I need another surgery?
Resolving a claim before the long-term medical picture is reasonably understood can create serious risks. Once a personal injury claim is finally settled, the injured person cannot seek additional compensation later because another operation became necessary. Future medical recommendations should therefore be carefully evaluated before settlement.
Is a missed fracture medical malpractice?
Potentially. A missed diagnosis by itself does not automatically establish malpractice. A viable claim requires proof that a healthcare provider departed from the applicable professional standard of care and that the delay caused additional harm. Medical expert review is typically necessary to evaluate those issues.
Contact a Miami Fracture Injury Lawyer
A serious fracture can involve much more than a few weeks in a cast. Surgery, hardware, infection, nonunion, permanent joint damage, chronic pain, and future arthritis can turn an orthopedic injury into a long-term medical problem.
Sotolongo Law represents people with serious fractures throughout Miami, Miami-Dade County, and South Florida. We offer the personal attention of a boutique firm backed by more than 20 years of personal injury experience and a medical malpractice background that helps us understand complicated orthopedic injuries and their long-term consequences.
Our Miami law practice also serves all of South Florida’s diverse communities, including Cuban, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Argentinian, and other Spanish-speaking families throughout Miami-Dade County and South Florida.
If you suffered serious fractures in a car accident, commercial truck crash, medical malpractice incident, fall, or another event caused by negligence, contact Sotolongo Law for a free consultation. You will not owe an attorney’s fee unless we obtain a recovery for you.
Because We Care®.