You have been in a Kentucky car accident.  You have been seriously injured. Severe back pain has been bothering you for days. Your fingers are numb and are tingling. There is radiating pain running into your arms and legs.  Your doctor believes that you may have a herniated disc and has ordered a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to be performed. 

What happens if the unthinkable happens and the MRI comes back negative?  The radiologists report says that the findings are normal. Does this mean that nothing is wrong with you?  That you aren’t injured? That it is all in your head? Not necessarily. 

There are studies that show that the specific morphology of a herniation was not reported by the radiologist in 42.2 % of the cases.  In other words they missed it. The MRI was not correctly read. There was a herniated disk but it didn’t show up on the test. Why does this happen?  Often times the person interpreting the MRI is not thoroughly trained in the area of back herniation.  An MRI should always be sent out and reviewed by a qualified radiologist. 

When your neurologist or orthopedic performs a physical examination and it shows radiating pain and other symptoms this is often the first indicator of a herniated disc.  30 % of patients with suspected disc herniation were not confirmed by traditional MRIs.  Why does this happen? Isn’t a test, especially an MRI, always correct? No! Not always. The MRI technical parameters are often over looked.  Many health and legal professionals feel that the strength of the MRI unit is the key factor in determining the quality of the MRI. 

This is a important factor but it is not the No. 1 determination as to whether or not a disc herniation is diagnosed.  The No. 1 determination is the thickness of the slices through the body and the gap between those slices that are set up on the MRI unit. 

When choosing an MRI facility you put your faith in your doctor. Work with a doctor that understands the technical parameters of an MRI.  This is crucial in making sure that a disc herniation is not overlooked.  Thickness is the area that is imaged at any one particular point in the MRI.  A gap is the distance between those images or the area.  If there is a large gap and your herniation happens to show up in that gap it will not be detected by the MRI. It simply will not be on the image. 

All MRIs are not created equal.  It is important to ask your doctor and the facility doing the MRI what the slice thickness is and what the size of the gap is before agreeing to use them to have an MRI.  This will ensure that a disc herniation will be diagnosed. This will help you receive fair compensation from your serious Kentucky motor vehicle accident.

Last weekend I was helping the Bon Air Neighborhood Association plant trees along the Bardstown Road Corridor between the Showcase Cinema and Hikes Lane. The purpose of this project is to raise awareness of the perils of pedestrians and bicyclists as they travel Bardstown Road.  The tree planting was in memory of a friend of the Bon Air Neighborhood Association, Jen Futrell. Jen was riding her bicycle home from work last year when she was struck by a van and killed.

While I was digging holes and planting trees there was two automobile accidents that occurred within fifty yards of me.  The first accident was a rear-end collision.  A car did not stop and plowed into the back end of another car.  The front hood was crushed and the bumper was torn off the car that was hit.  It was a hard impact.  Other than looking over and watching the cars and the police arrive, I did not pay much attention to this accident.  Everything seemed to run its course.

After at-fault car in the first accident left the scene, he pulled to the left to make a left-hand turn. He was apparently reading something while driving (which goes to a completely different point) and rear-ended another car.  Yes you heard me right, the same car that was in the first accident had just been involved in a second accident within minutes of the police leaving the accident scene.  The damage to the car in the second accident was minimal.  The impact pushed the bumper in. It then popped back out. Only a slight crack that was visible.

What grabbed my attention in this accident is that the driver of the impact vehicle got out of his car and was very animated.  The woman from the car that had been hit also got out of her car. I heard the voices get louder and louder. He was begging her not to call the police, not to call the insurance company, as there was no damage to the car.  There was a young boy in the back seat so I decided to go over to make sure everybody was okay.  I immediately noticed that the woman was visibly upset. She wanted to call the police but was afraid to. She was being intimidated by the animations of the first man. I could tell that she was scared and didn’t know what to do.

This got me thinking that many, many people do not know what to do if they are in a Kentucky automobile accident.  I advised the woman to get back into her car so that she could sit with her son, calm him down and to call the police.  The driver of the car that hit her became angry with me for getting involved. This was an obvious clue he was up to no good.  I asked him to provide his insurance card so that they could exchange information. It was at that time I noticed that he had a no insurance citation, which was obviously from the first accident.  He did not have insurance and although this was a minor accident, I  know from my experience that minor accidents have the possibility of leading to serious injuries. The woman’s boyfriend showed up and I left because I felt things were under control.

Now for the reason I am telling you this story. When you are involved in an accident there are several things that you need to remember. Failure to take these steps may make it difficult to proceed with a claim at a later time.

• Stop! The law requires anyone to stop that has been involved in an accident.  If you do not stop, you could be charged with leaving the scene of the accident, which is a criminal charge.  If possible and the accident is minor always pull over to the road get out of traffic so that you are safe.

• You should always assist anybody that is injured and call 911.  Do not move anybody that is seriously injured.

• Everyone should always report the accident.  Call the police department.  This is something that this woman almost did not do.  If she woke up the next morning with neck or back pain, it would be much more difficult to file a claim and get a satisfactory settlement.

• You should always exchange information.  You want to make sure that the other driver has insurance.  Get his driver’s license number, his address, the vehicle license plate number, make, model, year and VIN number of the car.  Do not count on the other person to give this to you as they may not give you the correct information.

• No matter how minor the accident you should see a doctor and get checked out to make sure that there are no hidden injuries.  Many times, you are so upset from the accident your adrenaline is flowing that you do not know you are hurt.  Get checked out just to make sure.  Your PIP insurance will pay for this.

• Watch what you say.  Always tell the truth but do not be too quick to assume what happened.  Just tell the facts to the police.

• If you don’t know what your options are talk to a lawyer so that he/she can advise you.

I hope these tips help.  If you need any additional information I provide a free down loadable pamphlet on what to do if you are in an automobile accident.  Alternatively, you may email me at mike@mikeschaferlaw.com and I will mail you a copy of the pamphlet. I hope you are never in a car accident and have to use this information, but if you are you will now know what to do.