Back injuries. Head injuries. Knee, shoulder, and other joints. All injuries that you would normally associate with accidents of any kind.
But what about heart attacks? We tend to think of heart attacks as events that happen because of genetics, or long-term habits like bad eating. But you may be surprised to know that there is a causal link that has been found, between the occurrence of a heart attack, and people who have been in accidents.
Causation Can be Difficult
One major problem when it comes to recovering damages for a heart attack is causation. There are a few reasons for this.
The first reason is that often, a heart attack doesn’t happen immediately after an accident. More often, the heart attack will occur days or even longer, after the accident. The longer the time between the accident and the heart attack, the easier it is for a Defendant to say that the heart attack was unrelated to the accident.
The other reason why Defendants have an easier time disputing causation is that there are multiple known causes of heart attacks, such as genetic diseases. A Defendant can point the finger at your family history of heart disease, or your cholesterol levels, and say those caused the heart attack — not the accident.
The Effects May not be Immediate
But most medical research actually shows that people who suffer heart attacks after an accident, suffer them far out in time from the accident itself.
In one study, there was a higher occurrence of heart attacks in accident victims, than there was compared to the general public — but those heart attacks often didn’t happen until as far out as 180 days after the accident.
In fact, even when researchers looked at people who had cardiac events years later, people in accidents were again more likely to have suffered them, than people who were not.
We are only now learning how the heart reacts to accidents. But we know that it does — and it’s not just by the occurrence of heart attacks. Other cardiac conditions seem to show a relationship to accidents. Cardiac arrests, or aortic ruptures, all have been found to be more common in those who were in accidents.
Why Do Accidents Cause Heart Attacks?
The question of why there is a connection is a lot harder to answer.
We do know that there is a connection between the trauma of a physical injury and long-term cardiac damage.
But one common sense answer may just be stress — injury, recovering from injury, surgeries, disability, or loss of income or work, all put stress on the body. This is especially true with older people.
We do know that the causal connection between heart attacks and accidents was stronger, with those inside of vehicles than it is for pedestrians, and is stronger in those over the age of 65.
Have you or someone you love suffered a heart attack after, or because of, an accident? Shoulder injury after an accident? Get help now. Contact the Las Vegas personal injury lawyers at Cameron Law today.
