Insurance Company Conundrum - Make me Whole After the Accident

Am I the only one who feels that after a motor vehicle accident, the offending party's insurance company has the onus of being responsible for making the victim whole? Or at least trying to compensate for the hours and money spent trying to become whole again? And something for the pain the victim is suffering. I realize there is no way to pay for the pain - you don't have that much money.

I remember when the insurance companies petitioned the government  to allow capping of payouts on 'soft tissue damage'. I didn't think much about it at the time. I've never been hurt in a car accident before. I've only ever hit a deer on the road - she jumped out in front of me and I didn't have time to stop. Sure, my car got hurt and had to be fixed. But other than shaken, I didn't have any injuries.

So this soft tissue damage capping didn't' affect me, I thought. Sprains heal. Muscles heal. Right?

Well, it does affect me after all. Broken bones heal, they even get stronger where they've been broken. Pieces missing aren't coming back - you get prosthetics to replace a missing limb if necessary and there is a payment scale for the worth of that limb/digit. Insurance covers the whole enchilada.

But soft tissue damage? Well no one can put an exact finger on the spot or the problem. Or absolutely prove the accident caused this difficulty. So the insurance companies, knowing how much healing muscle damage can cost and how long a person might be an invalid - hey they have stats for all this you know - made some back room deal with the government to allow them to cap these pesky problems. Too many cases of long term overindulgence at the trough? Shareholders don't like payouts, bites into their dividends.

Anyone who has been reading my blogs knows I was in a MVA on November 23, 2011. I stopped at a flashing crosswalk, between a park and a residential district, to allow a pedestrian to walk unhindered across the street. The driver behind me, who I'd mentioned to my passenger son just moments before that she was following too closely, didn't stop. She hit me into the crosswalk.

Fortunately there wasn't a kid on that crosswalk, running across to get home for lunch. Otherwise I would have hit him. Thankfully, the old man, walking his dog, had waited till all the cars had stopped. He did not get hit. I still have nightmares about 'what could have been'.

My car was damaged of course. Not only did my bumper have to be replaced, but the steel plate under the bumper was mangled and had to be replaced as well. The auto body shop seemed surprised when I told them my airbags had not deployed.

But my son and I were damaged. We both sustained whiplash and concussions. I don't know what I hit with my head, or if it was the impact that sent my head flying forward and back into my headrest hard enough to break my hairclip and cause the concussion. My son did hit the window. Not enough to crack it, but enough that his head ached for months, and he had constant headaches. He also sustained side chest pains, probably from the seat belt clenching him. But, as a young adult male, he healed quickly, brushing aside telling the doctor about any further pain. He settled although he still experiences debilitating pain in his side some days.

Myself, well, I am a lot older. Almost 60. I don't heal as quickly. And I think, because I saw the car coming in my rearview mirror, I tensed. My mistake? Don't really know. I still suffer from my concussion and the whiplash injuries are ongoing. See, my neck muscles became injured from the fast forward and backward motion. And those muscles are attached to other parts of my body, namely my neck. My nerves go under those muscles. And the muscles haven't healed.

I still suffer from my concussion and the whiplash injuries are ongoing. See, my neck muscles became injured from the fast forward and backward motion. And those muscles are attached to other parts of my body, namely my neck. My nerves go under those muscles. And the muscles haven't healed.

I do know that before the accident I was a fit, healthy, middle aged woman. Other than some very mild arthritis in one hip and one side of my jaw, I didn't have a pain in my body. I walked every day with my dog, I sang, I puttered around the house, I worked at my different projects, I kept my house somewhat clean, I did laundry. And I wrote daily. In all I led an active healthy life. 


So now, I have pain in my jaw. I can't chew properly. I can no longer open my mouth fully. I can't talk for long periods of time, or often. I can't sing.

I have severe ringing in my ears. They call it Tinnitus. Never had it before the accident. But the ENT specialist maintained that my age and my smoking habit are the only reasons for this never ending noise. Can't possibly be the accident. Just because it only started then is no reason to blame the accident. Right?  But I did find, just two days ago, when my GP put me on steriods to take down the swelling in my injured muscles, my Tinnitus lessened. I heard again! Would that be a coincidence too?

My right  hand somehow got injured during the accident. Not the whole thing, just two fingers. The inside of my ring finger and my middle finger developed this pins and needles sensation all the time. I complained. It didn't hurt, but it annoyed me no end. And I found the outer part of my palm cramped if I used the hand, like when I used scissors, a knife, utensils of any kind, including my crochet hook and knitting needles or needle and thread. Cramped so badly I needed help pulling my hand open and needed the cramp massaged out.

I had no energy. me, a type A personality who always had at least four things on the go. I only wanted to lay down, covered as I felt cold all the time. Those effects still hamper me. I find myself unable to enjoy a swim in the heated swimming pool near our summer place. I haven't worn shorts for two summers now.

For 6 months after the accident I couldn't even concentrate on reading, let alone writing. I am a writer. I had two books almost finished. Just needed to self-edit and tweak those stories. I couldn't concentrate enough to finish them or write other stories. Not that my right hand was going to allow me to type much anymore, or my head concussion or whiplash would allow me to sit upright.

I have traveled over 6500km for specialist appointments, investigations with MRIs and CTs,, physio therapy treatments and massage treatments. I have spent hundreds of dollars on medications and more massage treatments, because the insurance companies have this rule that they only give you a set number of treatments regardless of how many you need. You personally pay for anything more and hope your lawyer can recover those expenses during the settlement. So, with the gas prices as high as they are, I have covered all my expenses except those first few, myself.

The accident was not my fault. If I had caused it, yes, I would consider the expense part of my consequences.

Oh, I forgot to say I lost my job over this accident. Of course that's not how my exit letter states my firing. No, I've been deemed not able to fit in properly. I've never been fired before! Of course, I hadn't worked for the company very long when the accident occurred; just 5 days. So I have no medical or benefit coverage.  I can't get unemployment because I don't have enough hours and I am unable to look for other work in my field until I am healed. I was told I should look to the offender's insurance company to recover lost wages. Catch 22 anyone? I can't win here.

I had a plan for my retirement. I never planned to be useless. I am very much an A type personality. I always had at least four projects on the go. I like to keep busy. I'm happiest when I've got many things on teh go. So whenever I get bored with one project, there's another ready for me to take it up and continues to work on it.
See, I am an artist. My art takes many forms. I am a writer. I have many short stories out in magazines and I have two books published now. I am also a master level clothing designer, tailor and construction and master level lacemaker. I had planned to start sewing again, this time sell my wares at rodeos, advertise costume and wedding dress design and construction. I have a line of stuffed toys I planned to market as well. And probably sell my lace. Real, well constructed, handmade lace is very expensive. Any one of those arts could keep me in tea and toast for years. A planned supplement to my meager old age pension.

My husband also lost his job due to my accident. He couldn't concentrate on a big work project when I was badly affected by this accident. No, his termination letter doesn't tell him that, it says he's been made redundant. After 20 years! But his boss did tell him while they were alone of the real reason. So no medical coverage at all. And he'll probably never find another job. He's over 60. Too old to hire.

I've been to many specialists. Only the neurologist came right out and told me she would not attribute my injuries to the accident. She said she didn't want to get involved in a court trial. The other specialists are very careful not to write anything saying the MVA might have caused my problems. None of them had the courage to tell me the real reason, though they did imply, in person, that the accident probably caused these.
Aren't I lucky?

We are now down to the two year mark, where my lawyer has to start the settlement process.

You can believe the insurance company is not going to settle any amount that might cover all the extra expenses I'm going to spend my life covering because of this accident.  They cannot make me whole physically again. Only time will tell if I heal. And they aren't going to pay for a 'maybe'.
I think insurance companies have forgotten their roots, their reason d'etre. Aren't they supposed to be the middleman, the stopper between feuding for the victim's family and the perpetrator's?  My lawyer isn't sounding very positive about any real compensation without lots of facts, glossy pictures, arrows and printing, doctors willing to testify, and x-rays showing the damaged bits,  telling the whole story.

So now, my poor GP, the only one with the collection consult letters and investigation results, the whole picture, only he can put the threads together and write my lawyer a letter stating the accident caused all these problems. Only him.  He doesn't have any time to spend in court if the insurance company won't settle. He's a busy GP, with lots of sick patients.

I am only one.