Four Passengers Seriously Injured in Riverhead Crash

Authorities believe an 18-year-old man was intoxicated when he left the road and slammed into a tree, injuring four people.

All four van passengers were seriously injured in the wreck that happened on Main Street in Riverhead. One victim was airlifted to a hospital. The others were transported by ambulance. Authorities arrested the driver, who wasn’t hurt, for DUI.

The Riverhead Detective Division and the New York State Police Accident Investigation Unit assisted with the investigation, which is ongoing at this time.

Car Crash Injuries

The average injury-related medical bill is over $50,000. These expenses usually break down into three categories.

Transportation

You can throw that “average” figure out the window if a victim is airlifted to a hospital. An average medevac flight costs over $40,000. Surface ambulance transportation isn’t nearly as high, but it isn’t cheap either. Especially if a victim is treated and released at an emergency room, the surface transportation bill may be almost as high as the treatment bill.

Insurance adjusters routinely take things down a notch. They’re willing to pay surface ambulance costs for airlifts and Uber costs for ambulance rides.

This attitude makes some sense. Emergency responders often err on the side of caution. They want victims to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. However, this payment attitude is also somewhat senseless. Most victims, especially most seriously-injured victims, are in no position to express a travel preference. They must accept whatever transportation mode emergency responders recommend.

Attorneys advocate for victims in these situations. Moreover, as is often the case with overall medical bills, a New York personal injury attorney often negotiates with providers and lowers their fees. Pretty much everything is negotiable, if a lawyer asks politely but firmly.

Helicopter medevacs are so expensive because these choppers are basically flying hospitals. EMTs really must know what they’re doing, especially since the victims they’re transporting are literally at death’s door.

Medical Care

Even the best EMTs can only stabilize victims. Once they arrive at hospitals, doctors begin treating their serious injuries, such as:

• Head Injuries: The motion of a wreck, as opposed to a trauma injury, often causes a head injury. Most people assume the brain fits snugly inside the skull, like a head in a helmet. But the skull is more like a water tank which suspends the brain in cerebrospinal fluid. Extreme force to the head is like shaking a small aquarium. The fish probably won’t escape uninjured, and neither will the brain.
• Broken Bones: Advanced seatbelts and airbags reduce the number of broken pelvises and hips. But they do little to reduce the risk of broken arms and legs. Since doctors must use metal components to reconstruct these shattered bones, these victims often never entirely regain use of these limbs.
• Internal Injuries: The aforementioned motion causes internal organs to smash against each other. The resulting cuts and abrasions usually bleed badly, since internal organs have no protective skin layer. Doctors can usually correct the damage, assuming they can find these pinprick holes in the first place.

Emotional injuries, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, are common as well. Over half of car crash victims deal with ongoing symptoms like flashbacks, anger, and depression. These effects make it very difficult, or even impossible, to function at school, work, home, or anywhere else.

As important as medical treatment is, it usually only sets victims up for recovery. Total recovery, or at least the best possible recovery, is usually up to physical therapists.

Physical Therapy

Much to the chagrin of doctors and patients, insurance adjusters often use actuarial tables that accountants created to approve or deny treatment costs. For example, adjusters often approve five sessions for a broken arm, three sessions for a broken leg, or whatever.

However, not everyone responds to physical therapy in the same way. Furthermore, the therapy approach differs. For example, brain injury physical therapists must train uninjured parts of the brain to assume lost functions. That’s why these victims must often learn to walk, talk, go to the bathroom, tie their shoes, and do pretty much everything all over again. Progress is slow, painful, and uneven.

First Party Liability in Alcohol-Related Wrecks

The staggering medical bills in these cases are only the beginning. Injured victims often miss months of work. Their noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering, are almost impossible to calculate. To obtain compensation for all these losses, a New York personal injury attorney must prove negligence, or a lack of care, by a preponderance of the evidence, or more likely than not.

Frequently, alcohol-related wreck liability is relatively straightforward, because of the negligence per se rule. Tortfeasors (negligent drivers) are liable for damages as a matter of law if:

• They violate safety laws, and
• Those violations substantially cause injuries.

Most law enforcement agencies have mandatory DUI arrest policies. If they have probable cause to believe the tortfeasor was driving under the influence, perhaps due to a failed chemical test, they must make an arrest.

Negligence per se doesn’t come up as frequently in most other wrecks. Police officers rarely issue traffic or other citations, even if someone is killed, because most officers see most wrecks as civil matters.

That’s okay, because the ordinary negligence doctrine is still available. A New York personal injury attorney uses circumstantial evidence to prove alcohol impairment. This evidence usually includes:

• Previous visits to places that served alcohol,
• Reckless driving before the crash,
• Bloodshot eyes, odor of alcohol, or other physical symptoms,
• Open containers of alcohol in the vehicle, and
• Tortfeasor’s statements about alcohol consumption.

Roughly this same evidence, in a slightly different context, could establish third party liability in an alcohol-fueled wreck. More on that below.

Third Party Liability

Since New York has one of the lowest auto insurance minimum requirements in the country, many tortfeasors don’t have enough coverage to fairly compensate victims. Therefore, third party liability theories are often critical, especially in wrongful death or catastrophic injury claims.

In the Empire State, commercial alcohol providers, like restaurants and bars, are vicariously liable for injury damages if they illegally sell alcohol to patrons that cause wrecks. Some illegal sales include:

• Unlicensed sales,
• Underage sales,
• After or before-hours sales, and
• Sales to intoxicated individuals.

Vicarious liability is more than a compensation thing. If bars and other businesses must pay damages in these situations, they’ll change the way they do business, and prioritize public safety above their own alcohol sale profits.
Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney in New York, contact the Pianko Law Group, PLLC. Attorneys can connect victims with doctors, even if they have no money or insurance.