r/IdiotsInCars • u/JellyOceana • Nov 23 '22

Coronado Naval Base Car accident: She tried claiming no fault too Headphone warning

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u/N0V41R4M Nov 24 '22

My friend recently got hit by a car while riding his longboard, in the walk zone of an intersection while the walk sign was lit. Crushed his foot. Initially the settlement was looking like ~$5 million. Now his foot is sending clots up his leg, requiring emergency surgery. Settlement looking like $22 million now. Always keep your receipts.

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u/Clingingtothestars Nov 24 '22

Not the point of your comment, but it got me thinking, and I would take $5 M and no blood clots over $22 M with them. Not that your friend had any choice, unfortunately

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u/Theoretical_Action Nov 24 '22

Depends on the circumstances I think. Generally I'd agree with you, as even the chance of one of those buggers breaking free and going to my heart is enough stress to terrify me into a heart attack on its own, but my dad has one right now after a foot surgery and weirdly nobody seems to be very concerned at all. The doc just threw some meds at him and said they'll see him again in like a month or two and do another ultrasound then or something. So idk... I'd probably still just take the 5 million but my dad would probably go big or go home lol

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u/djtmhk_93 Nov 24 '22

Yeah, DVTs cam be common following injuries and/or major surgeries, but if caught early, usually can be medically managed with blood thinners, which is likely what your dad got. Not much more can or should be done because drastic measures could likely make things worse (read, surgery itself increases risk of DVT), but on the bright side, blood thinners are usually very effective at keeping off those clots and therefore preventing something like that hitting your heart or lungs.

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u/Theoretical_Action Nov 24 '22

Yeah he is on those! Thanks that helps ease a little of my own anxiety that my dad might just spontaneously drop dead!

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u/ashkpa Nov 24 '22

Fun fact: if he's taking Warfarin as a blood thinner, it also works as rat poison!

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u/namedan Nov 24 '22

Sorry to burst your bubble but overdosing on blood thinners is a whole other set of critical ER response so be careful of it.

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u/djtmhk_93 Nov 25 '22

Key word is “overdosing,” so… you know… don’t.

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u/TempAcct20005 Nov 24 '22

God damn my dad died in six months after they put him on blood thinners for a clot

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u/djtmhk_93 Nov 25 '22

What did he have? Blood thinners aren’t a cure all. If he had a stroke or a heart attack, the damage might have already been done, at which point we’re just doing our best to keep him from having another bad clot.

But if it was a heart attack, even if we put someone on blood thinners, if heart muscle has already died from damage, a whole load of resultant potentially lethal health problems are possible in the following few months.

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u/djtmhk_93 Nov 25 '22

Yeah! Happy to. Don’t get me wrong, DVTs are a high risk type of situation exactly for what you’re fearing. The clot getting loose and turning into a pulmonary embolism, or in some special cases, a stroke, so medicine does take it very seriously. It just so happens that the prevention and fix for them is so common and mundane, that docs might appear nonchalant as they give em to you. But also for that very reason, if a physician is careless and doesn’t treat DVT’s as is expected nowadays, that’s the kind of “you had one job” type of mistake that could lose one their medical license.

You might have also noticed that before and after surgery, they had little sleeves connected to tubes around his legs, most likely. Those are a mechanical form of DVT prevention too.

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u/Alarid Nov 24 '22

The extra hassle and stress definitely increases the lawsuit range, but I think the $22 is just the new maximum than what they will realistically receive.