Anyone can get seriously hurt in a car crash, but children are at slightly elevated risk of sustaining harm in a wreck. The restraint systems in vehicles don’t work properly with smaller bodies, so children need special restraints or seats for optimal safety.
Even when parents ensure that they have the right car seats installed and have the children use them consistently, a crash could still lead to a major injury for child passengers. The injuries that a child suffers in a crash could end up proving far more serious and, therefore, also more expensive than similar injuries in adults.
Children may scar more seriously
A serious cut or compound fracture might require surgery for an adult, but the cost to treat the same injury for a child could be far more expensive. Anytime there is damage to the skin, especially if someone is still quite young, their continued growth could turn what would be a minor scar for an adult into a permanent and disfiguring scar for a child. Wounds to the face, neck, upper chest and hands may be of particular concern. Children, therefore, typically require special wound care to prevent scarring, which can cost far more than treatment for similar injuries for adults.
An injury could affect someone’s growth
A brain injury for a child might lead to permanent developmental deficits that affect everything from their education and future independence to their earning potential as adults. On the other hand, a broken bone could mean growth challenges for a child if the fracture damages the growth plate. They may require surgical intervention and could end up with uneven physical development if they don’t receive proper diagnosis and treatment for what would be a simple fracture in an adult. Their injuries could leave them with compromised strength or function for life in some cases.
Parents whose children get hurt in car crashes need to prepare themselves for a more involved medical process and possibly more expensive care for their child than they would if an adult had sustained similar kinds of harm in a crash. Pursuing a personal injury claim may be necessary when families incur particularly high costs following a car crash caused by another’s actions or inactions.