What is Polytrauma?

Polytrauma is a term used in both the medical and legal fields referring to any condition in which an injured individual has sustained two or more very severe, potentially life-threatening, injuries. Polytrauma injuries tend to be life-altering and require several years, if not the rest of the person’s life, of treatment and rehabilitation. What makes these serious injuries even worse is that many polytrauma victims also experience psychological effects on top of their physical pain.

A common example of a polytrauma injury is someone withstanding a traumatic brain injury on top of a serious burn injury, or some other combination of debilitating physical ailments. When you factor in the overall extent of the physical, mental, financial and social concerns associated with polytrauma injuries, it makes sense how a far-reaching support system is required to help these injury victims.

Our team of personal injury law experts has handled many different polytrauma cases, and we understand how the financial toll, on top of the emotional and physical implications, is very difficult for injury victims and their families. We’ve helped countless injury victims in terms of obtaining their rightful compensation after catastrophic injuries of all types, and we’re always ready to utilize our experience and standing with major insurance companies to work for you and your family’s future.

Common Causes of Polytrauma

Polytrauma can be the result of any injury situation in which a high-energy force collides with an individual. Some common accident examples include:

• Car accidents
• Slip and falls
• Being struck by an object
• Electrocutions
• Construction and workplace accidents
• Explosions
• Pedestrian accidents
• Being caught/stuck in between two objects
• Chemical accidents
• Heavy machinery accidents
• Industrial accidents
• And much more…

What Types of Injuries does Polytrauma Typically Entail?

Polytrauma is almost always caused by some kind of penetrating or blunt force physical trauma. Penetrating trauma occurs when some kind of object pierces an individual’s skin and subsequently enters the body’s muscular tissues, organs and skeletal structure. Blunt force trauma is still just as dangerous to the body, but it entails a physical impact that isn’t penetrating.

Some of the common types of injuries that combine together to create a polytrauma injury include the following:

• Traumatic brain injuries
• Back, neck and spinal cord injuries
• Fractures
• Loss of limbs
• Lacerations and abrasions
• Organ damage and potential failure
• Burns
• Infection
• Vascular and nerve damage
• Vision and hearing loss

Common Impairments Associated with Polytrauma Victims

It’s a very unfortunate part of these catastrophic injuries, but polytrauma victims tend to suffer from a whole array of different mental, physical and social impairments that ultimately inflict dramatic, potentially permanent changes on their quality of life.

If you or one of your family members is coping with any kind of polytraumatic injuries, then you may very well know the overall possibilities of long-term disabilities. Some of the following complications are associated with polytrauma victims:

• Chronic Pain: Physical pain is, of course, the most obvious impairment associated with polytrauma injuries, and long-term prescriptions of very strong painkillers may be how doctors try to treat a patient’s symptoms.
• PTSD: PTSD tends to be very common amongst polytrauma patients, and this is understandable considering they went through a very catastrophic event that can easily haunt them psychologically. Cognitive restricting and exposure therapy are some of the ways medical professionals treat PTSD associated with polytrauma injuries.
• Depression: Many polytrauma victims become clinically depressed after their injuries for a variety of reasons, which is why mental health counseling, certain medications and lifestyle changes are always recommended for polytrauma patients when they feel ready to explore their options.
• Bleeding: This is, of course, a very serious impairment that must be monitored closely, and your medical team will always provide you with their recommended strategies to stop persistent bleeding.
• Multiple Organ Failure: When someone experiences severe physical trauma to areas like their liver, kidneys, brain or lungs, there are chances that some of their major organs will begin to fail. Some of the options in this situation are intravenous medication and mechanical ventilation.
• Sepsis: Sepsis is a bacterial infection within someone’s bloodstream, and antibiotics tend to be an effective treatment method when sepsis is caught in its early stages. But when it’s not caught early on, central lines, vasopressors and intravenous fluids are potentially necessary to treat sepsis.

Polytrauma Injury Treatment

It’s always very complicated to treat polytrauma injuries, and there are constant studies being conducted about how medical teams can improve their emergency room services to support these high-risk patients as quickly and efficiently as possible.

One of the first assessments that medical teams will conduct to evaluate a polytrauma injury is using the Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability, Exposure (ABCDE) approach, which will quickly diagnose the patient and provide the potentially life-saving treatment they require. The Injury Severity Score (ISS) is a medical score that defines major trauma that is also typically associated with the early diagnoses of polytrauma injuries.

When a polytrauma injury victim has been successfully stabilized, it may be time for them to undergo surgery, fracture repair, burn care or several other treatments that are connected with the patient’s specific symptoms.

Pretty much every polytrauma injury victim will have to undergo a very long recovery period that includes long-term hospital stays and closely monitored rehabilitation sessions.

Contact an Experienced Long Island Personal Injury Attorney for Assistance

Our compassion for polytrauma victims is boundless at Siler & Ingber, LLP, and we know very well just how much these types of catastrophic injuries impact the victim and their family’s lives. With over 20 years of experience representing injury victims all across the state of New York, we can assure you of our full-fledged commitment to obtaining your necessary recovery compensation and resources.

We understand how high the stakes are for all our clients, which is why we promise to aggressively fight on your behalf to ensure you obtain the maximum amount of recovery damages.

Contact us today for a free case review so we can go over the details of your injury circumstances and formulate the best legal strategy that’s available to you.