How do adjusters/lawyers determine what was caused by the accident and what doesn't count?
Hi all - NJ, rear ended while stationary at a red light at 50mph so no question as to fault. Both cars totaled. I was 38 years old at the time of the accident, in good health, I had some minor past back pain and had surgery on both my knees 15 years earlier after a 20 year career in figure skating. I wasn't injured in like "omg I almost died" way, but, it more like death by 1,000 papercuts. After the accident everything hurt, I just thought I was achey and sore but it was actually damage EVERYWHERE. So it took almost a year to get it all figured out. At this point I am 2.5 years out from the accident and these are the injuries/surgeries:
- 3 displaced rib fractures 4,5,6 on the left, they healed crooked so I have to have ablations of the nerves every 6-9 months
- 4 herniations in my neck, I had the worst replaced with an artificial disc and its been nothing but painful so we will be converting to a fusion this summer.
- I had some thoracic herniations but they were not symptomatic at the time of the accident and they were majorly flared up so I had injections and ablations, the ablations help so no surgery at this point.
- 2 lumbar herniations, 2 lumbar microdiscectomies, left with chronic tingling in my left leg and back pain that can be helped with injections
- meniscus tears in both knees (I had an MRI a year earlier on one of the knees and it was completely clean), I had surgery on the worse of the two knees and it did nothing, my knee still feels awful so were trying gel injections next
- tore both hip labrums, had surgery on both and one side tore out 6 weeks post op. I am trying to figure out when the heck im scheduling that surgery because it hurts so bad but I need to cervical fusion more
- tendonitis in both elbows, one elbow developed a ganglion cyst that pushed on the nerves to my hand making my hand very weak. I had it removed and it grew back, so now were removing it again and moving the radial nerve to improve the function of my dominant hand.
- Carpal tunnel surgery on both hands (my hands were just a mess, and it was hard to determine was it neck? was it shoulder? was it wrist??)
- My husband and I wanted to have kids and my lower back and hips just can't do it. So I am hoping to be compensated for the fact that I basically lost my chance to be a mother and my husband a father.
I have absolutely lost count of my pain management procedures but its probably at 30 atleast. Its been alot. Ive done my best to keep my job but I have missed like 6 months of work from the initial accident and then the subsequent surgeries, so I think i'm out like $60k in income at this point. I had to quit any side hustles/part time jobs I had. And the other stressful part is because I use all my paid sick time for surgery, I am in constant fear of getting sick because I can't just take a sick day because it would be unpaid.
So I don't know what kind of question i'm really asking here but I think a few of them are things like the carpal tunnel and the elbow ganglion, some people are like "Well you probably had those prior to the accident" and i'm like.....they didn't bother me before the accident? They didn't require surgical intervention before the accident so are they included as injuries or not? And then the surgeries that basically need redo's like the left hip and the conversion to fusion, those are still repercussions on the accident so I feel like those should count in my injuries. Some folks in the insurance side said a retear in my hip is my fault (I wasn't doing anything crazy, I just felt it pull when I was getting in my car) even though the original tear is from the accident. The person who hit me does have a good policy of $250k and a 1m umbrella. Theres days that i'm like girl your whole body is f**ked. And then I read other peoples stories who had like their intestines lacerated and spent a month in the hospital and im like ok....my injuries aren't that bad.
Anyway, curious for opinions, I have a lawyer but im sure anyone who has been through an accident knows they don't hear from their lawyer for months on end. Its very frustrating. I think discovery ends soon. Ive had my depo and IME. Anyone have an idea of how much longer this could be strung out and what I can expect? Thanks for taking the time to read!