The severity of bodily harm suffered by accident victims can be obvious: they are still, unconscious, and non-responsive. Their injuries may be horrific, with blood or broken bones obvious to witnesses and first responders. However, for many accident victims in Indiana and Illinois, bodily injury can be subtle and hidden while nevertheless being catastrophic and life-threatening. These are internal injuries, where the harm cannot be seen on the body’s surface.
For more, read: Catastrophic Injuries in an Accident: Damages for the Loss of a Normal Life and What are Catastrophic Injuries? Severe Bodily Harm Suffered by Accident Survivors in Indiana and Illinois.
What are Internal Injuries?
After an accident, there can be severe or fatal harm to the human body involving (1) internal bleeding and/or (2) damage to the internal organs. These are internal injuries, and they are often the result of blunt force trauma. Internal injuries are some of the most dangerous consequences of an accident on the road or on the job. Disregard of medical care after an accident can result in death if these injuries are left untreated.
Internal injuries are notorious for how subtle they can be. The accident victim may stand up, walk around, and declare they feel fine. The victim may not have any cuts or bruising: they appear to be alert and okay. However, this person may have suffered tremendous bodily damage beneath the skin, and adrenaline from the event may disguise their harm for a bit.
No employer should allow a worker to continue work after an accident on the job site without medical treatment to make sure there the employee has not suffered internal injuries.
Traumatic Causes: Blunt Force or Penetrating
Most internal injuries are caused by blunt force trauma. This involves an accident where the victim’s body is hit or crushed by an object moving at tremendous force or speed. Examples of blunt trauma accidents include the following:
- Caught-In Between Accidents
- Falls
- Forklift Accidents
- Heavy Machinery, Equipment, or Power Tool Accidents
- Struck-By Accidents.
For more, read Blunt Trauma Injuries in Industrial Work Accidents.
Some accidents, particularly on industrial worksites, may cause internal injuries when an object pierces the skin of the victim and causes bodily harm. This is called “penetrating trauma.”
As the National Institute of Medicine explains:
Penetrating trauma occurs when a foreign object pierces the skin and enters the body creating a wound. In blunt or non-penetrating trauma, the skin is not necessarily broken. In penetrating trauma, the object remains in the tissue or passes through the tissues and exits the body.…
Penetrating trauma often causes damage to internal organs resulting in shock and infection. The severity depends on the body organs involved, the characteristics of the object, and the amount of energy transmitted. Assessment includes x-rays, CT scans, and MRI. Treatment involves surgery to repair damaged structures and remove foreign objects.
Read, Lotfollahzadeh S, Burns B. Penetrating Abdominal Trauma. [Updated 2023 Feb 15]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan-.
Different Types of Internal Injuries: Signs and Symptoms of Harm
Regardless of the traumatic cause, any accident victim may suffer internal injuries that can permanently disable them or cause their death. These injuries may involve:
- Brain damage
- Heart damage
- Kidney damage
- Liver damage
- Lung damage
- Spleen damage.
The accident victim may not feel pain or be aware of these internal injuries for some time. Others may notice signs or symptoms before the victim. After an accident, loved ones and co-workers should be alert and aware for hints of internal injuries such as:
- Brain fog
- Blurred vision
- Bruises
- Confusion
- Dizziness
- Fainting
- Fatigue
- Lightheadedness
- Nausea
- Pain
- Sleepiness
- Slurred speech
- Stiff neck
- Vomiting
- Weakness.
Internal Injuries: Bleeding in the Brain
Of particular concern to safety agencies and those advocating for accident victims and their loved ones are internal injuries after an accident that result in brain bleeding after the victim has suffered trauma to the head. This involves an “intracranial hematoma” and it can be fatal.
As the Mayo Clinic warns, an intracranial hematoma:
… is a collection of blood within the skull…. The blood may collect in the brain tissue or underneath the skull, pressing on the brain…. [A]n intracranial hematoma is potentially life-threatening. It usually requires immediate treatment. This might include surgery to remove the blood.
It can take weeks or months for symptoms of a serious intracranial hematoma to present themselves; this is the “lucid interval” period. During this time, blood may be slowly leaking into the brain itself, or into the space between the brain and the skull. Left untreated, the accident victim can die or suffer permanent incapacities.
Internal Injuries: Abdominal Organs
Accident victims can also have internal injuries where one or more of their internal organs has been harmed because of compression or piercing of the organ within the body cavity. An example of internal organ injuries after an accident is where the victim suffers a ruptured spleen.
Here, the surface of the spleen is pierced as the body suffers trauma in an accident. There will be internal bleeding within the abdomen. The accident victim can die from this internal injury, due to infection as well as the continued, unaddressed blood loss.
Employer’s Duty of Care After a Work Accident
When an accident happens on the job site, workers are owed immediate care and treatment under both state and federal law. Even if the accident appears minor and the worker insists that no harm was done, the duty of care requires that worker to be evaluated by medical professionals to make sure there are no bodily injuries.
This is extremely important because internal injuries will not be evident after the accident. Internal injuries may not be evident for weeks or even months after the accident took place. This is why internal injuries are so dangerous and so scary. They can be silent killers.
All workers in Illinois and Indiana should be aware of the risk of internal injuries and their employer’s legal duty to get them medical care after an accident on the job-site. Even if things seem fine, the employer should insist upon the worker being examined by a physician at a care facility.
Sadly, employers and others in possession, custody, or control of aspects of the workplace are notorious for disregarding or disrespecting all sorts of legal duties of care, choosing to put profits over people. In doing so, they are liable for that worker’s injuries as well as damages sustained by that worker’s family members.
For more, read:
- Beware One of the Deadliest Dangers on Construction Sites: Struck-By Accidents
- Caught In-Between Hazards: One of OSHA’s “Fatal Four” Deadly Construction Accidents
- Dropped Objects: Workers Hurt or Killed by Falling Objects on the Job Site
- Fatal Falls on the Job and the Employers Failure to Protect Worker From Fall Risk
- Heavy Machinery Accidents in Indiana and Illinois
- Worker Injuries Involving Industrial Equipment, Machinery, or Tools.
Justice for Accident Victims Suffering Internal Injuries in Illinois or Indiana
After any accident here in Illinois or Indiana, the victim should receive proper medical care that includes a professional assessment of potential internal injuries sustained in the traumatic incident. Internal injuries are deceptive and the victim may not realize they have been seriously hurt.
When any accident victim has suffered internal injuries because of the actions or failure to act of another, then state or federal law may provide that victim and their loved ones with legal avenues to justice. Claims can be asserted for medical care and treatment; psychological care and treatment; rehabilitation costs; lost wages; loss of consortium; and more.
For more, read:
- Deadly Dangers Rising for Warehouse Workers in Indiana and Illinois
- Job Site Injury in Illinois or Indiana: When Accidents at Work Are Not Worker’s Compensation Claims
- Premises Liability and Workplace Accidents: Third Party Injury Claims
- Multiple Employers on the Construction Site: Who Is Liable For Construction Worker Accidents?
- The Two Main Differences Between Workers Compensation and Personal Injury Claims for Accident Victims in Indiana and Illinois.
Internal injuries are so sly that the victim may not be aware of them until severe harm has occurred and they are in a life-threatening situation. Employers and other third parties on a job site have particular legal responsibilities to make sure work accident internal injuries are discovered and treated promptly after the event. All too often, these realities are disregarded with tragic results. Please be careful out there!
