Q: Treated for whiplash, led to a collapsed lung, 7 days in hospital. Is this a valid personal injury clam? (Not med mal?)

A: Personal injury cases can be quite challenging. You did a good job in summarizing the scenario. A personal injury attorney can help you reduce the medical bills and lien and get a better recovery in most situations. If health insurance paid medical bills, there will most likely be a lien on the case. There are too many twists and turns to go into this alone. Sit down with a reputable attorney in your area to go through the facts and recommended courses of action.

A: There is legal precedent for medical malpractice being included in an award of damages, on the basis that malpractice is a foreseeable consequence of injury. Your case is not an easy one, with many points at which your damages could be cut off by a jury. You need to be willing and prepared to go to trial. Yes, you can claim more than policy limits; the question becomes one of collection if you prevail. The question of your net recovery, if any, is way beyond the scope of a question and answer forum. Interview personal injury attorneys; almost all provide free consultations. There are time deadlines that can cause you to lose all your rights, so act right away.

A: Not clear where the med mal came in unless you received bad chiropractice or manipulative therapy. Contact a member of CAOC in the county where it happened who handles medical cases as well as automobile cases. Generally, if you can show that the treatment--even bad treatment--was necessitated by the crash, then it's part of the crash claim though between us, the insurer will claim that the actions of anyone who committed malpractice are "intervening causes" meaning they bought into responsibility and take the driver that caused the wreck off the hook.

If kids got treatment they may have a claim. Being "tramuatized" with no treatment =0.

Get the consult.

A: Yes, this is a PI case. The cause of the original injury is liable for the consequences of the medical care caused. It may also be a med mal case, but those are very difficult and the damages don't seem to justify the risk and expense. Your UIM policy is implicated and your insurer should be notified of the coming UIM claim. You need an attorney to do this. You will owe your insurer repayment of what it paid, which should be far less than the $60-$70k actually billed. Your attorney can negotiate a reduction. Getting an attorney should be a money maker for you.

A: I should have written that you will owe your medical insurer repayment of what it has paid for your medical treatment.

A: Your case for the car accident is a done deal. They will issue a check for the $15k. The only way to get more money would be to file against your Ininusred /unserinsured policy. It is fuzzy to blame them fo the injection, buy if it was done as result of treatment for the accident. o ahead and file. There are three things you will need before you file for your underinsured case.

Do not settle until you talk to a lawyer. best of luck