Heart Injury Caused by Blunt Trauma Suffered in an Auto Accident

I’m Katelyn Holub, an attorney focusing on personal injury law in northwest Indiana.

Welcome to Personal Injury Primer, where we break down the law into simple terms, provide legal tips, and discuss personal injury law topics.

Today’s episode is a follow-up to an earlier podcast episode, where we discussed the issue of a driver developing an aortic aneurysm following blunt force trauma of his chest hitting the steering wheel during a car crash.

But, in that caller’s case, the doctors quickly diagnosed the condition and associated it with the car crash.

Sometimes, however, no immediate symptoms are associated with heart trauma beyond minor abrasions and bruises.

In many situations following blunt chest trauma, whether through an automobile crash or a work injury, the heart injury may not show up for months or years following the injury incident.

We suggest that attorneys be alert that cardiac injury does not fully develop in some circumstances until months or years after an initial trauma and that the late development of a heart condition can be causally related to a traumatic event.

If an attorney suspects a cardiac injury, they should obtain all of their client’s medical records and history.

Having all of a person’s records may result in the attorney being the best person to spot clues that point to heart injury caused by nonpenetrating trauma to the chest or abdomen. Having all the records, the attorney should examine the medical records of their seemingly healthy client who later suffers a heart attack or dies from heart failure to see if there is a link between the collision and the cardiac conditions that develop.

Where the clues point to heart damage, the attorney should seek a competent medical or biomechanical expert to see if, indeed, there is a causal link between a trauma suffered in a vehicle collision or other mishap to a subsequent aneurysm, arterial blockage, arrhythmia or ventricular rupture that manifests itself months or years later.

Let’s consider the case of a man suffering a blow to the chest that left the steering wheel of his vehicle badly distorted and a mark across his chest caused by the pulling of the shoulder strap. In this gentleman’s case, he began to experience severe shortness of breath a few months following the crash, and an angiogram revealed an 85% blockage of the left anterior descending coronary artery. The man had been perfectly healthy before the crash. He did not have high blood pressure, he was not diabetic, and he did not smoke.

In fact, before the crash, he frequently would jog several miles a day and, in doing so, experienced no chest pain or other problems.

In such a case, the attorney should consult with a competent medical professional to have them look over the patient’s medical records and consider the patient’s medical history to determine if, in fact, the trauma suffered in the auto collision resulted in the blockage discovered on the angiogram.

Even though the heart, and the associated arteries of the heart, are protected by the sternum and the rib cage, the compressive force exerted by a steering wheel or other heavy object against the chest can compress the heart and surrounding tissue between the sternum and the spine. Acceleration or deceleration can thrust the heart against the sternum or vertebrae.

Sudden deceleration from as low as 20 mph has been shown to produce injury to the heart without obvious external signs of trauma.

Cardiac injury can also result from a blow causing indirect compressive force to the chest or the sudden decompression of the abdomen or lower extremities. This results in a marked increase in intra-thoracic or intra-vascular pressure and imparts a hydraulic ram effect to the heart.

Another way the heart can be injured similarly is by a baseball or baseball bat or even a golf ball striking the chest, or compression of the legs or abdomen.

The magnitude of deceleration in a crash can be explained by Newton’s law of dynamics. The forces imparted upon the body can damage the pericardium (the tissue surrounding the heart), the myocardium (the heart muscle), and the valvular structures of the heart and the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart muscle.

I hope you found this information helpful. If you are a victim of someone’s carelessness, substandard medical care, product defect, work injury, or another personal injury, please call (219) 736-9700 with your questions. You can also learn more about us by visiting our website at DavidHolubLaw.com – while there, make sure you request a copy of our book “Fighting for Truth.”