30-Year-Old Woman Suffers Permanent Shoulder Injury in Car Crash

Our 30-year-old client was traveling for work on U.S. 24 in Henry County, Ohio when another driver merged onto the highway and crossed several lanes of traffic, striking the passenger side of our client’s vehicle at a high rate of speed. Immediately after the collision, our client began suffering from serious pain in her neck and left shoulder – pain she had never experienced prior to the crash.

When physical therapy and injections did not improve our client’s pain, she underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. Unfortunately, this procedure did not help. As the years went on, our client continued to suffer from significant pain and serious limitations in her ability to use her left shoulder. She underwent several additional surgeries before a Harvard-educated shoulder specialist in Cleveland discovered that she had developed significant arthritis in her left shoulder as a result of the car crash. Our client’s surgeon prepared a report for her case indicating it was very unlikely that a woman in her 30s would have the type of arthritis our client has developed. Sadly, our client’s arthritis is a degenerative condition that will progress and worsen over time and lead to additional complications related to loss of function. Stem cell therapy may help for a time, but eventually she will experience an increase in pain and a decrease in function, ultimately requiring future surgery that might include a total shoulder replacement.

Our office filed a complaint on behalf of our client and aggressively pursued litigation for several years. Through handling her related workers’ compensation claim, we also worked tirelessly to ensure that our client got the help she needed from the specialists who could determine the best course of action for treating her shoulder condition. The case ultimately resolved at mediation for $145,000, providing our client with a source of money that she may be able to use on the stem cell therapy her surgeon has recommended. By pursuing the case in court, we ultimately obtained a result for our client that was significantly more than prior offers on her case.