Wear seat belts in New Mexico to avoid liver damage in car wreck

When car crashes occur, the two organs of the human body most often injured by abdominal trauma and susceptible to heavy bleeding are the liver and the spleen. A person can live without their spleen, but the liver is an organ that is vital to life. Depending on the severity of the injury, the liver might be surgically repaired, but even then, deadly complications can result from severe liver trauma.

One study showed that using seat belts helped prevent catastrophic injuries to the liver about 21 percent of the time, and when airbags were also available, the odds jumped to approximately 26 percent. The two devices worked well together, but airbags without the use of a seat belt did not improve the likelihood of avoiding severe liver injury resulting from a motor vehicle accident.

Researchers looked at data for over 50,000 people who suffered liver injuries in car accidents from 2010 through 2015. Liver trauma was classified as either severe or low-grade. Approximately 14 percent of those with severe liver trauma were patients who needed surgery, but 15 percent of those people died despite emergency services. Almost 8 percent of patients who were classified with sustaining low-grade liver trauma died from complications of their injuries, which points to the fragility of the organ.

Every year in this country, 2 million people are transported to emergency rooms because of motor vehicle accidents, and tens of thousands of those people die. A personal injury attorney might be able to help families who are faced with catastrophic injuries or the loss of a loved one. Car accidents happen in an instant, but they can change lives forever. It may take an attorney who understands the laws of the state to sort through accident reports or handle crash reconstruction to make a personal injury claim.