Steps To Take If You’re in a Car Accident While Pregnant

Other than childbirth itself, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of trauma associated with fetal deaths. One source estimates that 1,500 to 5,000 unborn children lose their lives each year because of car accidents. Even when the baby survives, a car accident while pregnant can cause serious injury for both mother and baby.

Jordan Law Center’s Greenville car accident lawyer explains the steps to take if you’re in a car accident while pregnant.

Immediate Medical Care After a Car Accident While Pregnant

If you’re in a car accident while pregnant, try to remain calm. Stop your vehicle away from traffic and other dangers. Call 911 or non-emergency law enforcement. Tell everyone that responds—police, EMTs, your medical care providers—that you are pregnant. If you’re in a car accident while pregnant, always get medical attention, even if you don’t think you’re hurt.

Cooperate with the law enforcement investigation. Obtain information from others involved, including driver’s license and vehicle information. Take photos of damaged vehicles and the accident scene. If you need emergency medical care, prioritize your care.

Can a Car Accident Cause a Miscarriage or Other Complications?

Car accidents may cause complications for pregnant women, including the following:

Immediate delivery—The stress of the car accident or the rupture of protective membranes may cause premature labor. Premature labor can result in low birth weight and neonatal respiratory distress syndrome.

Placental abruption —When the placenta detaches from the uterine wall, the baby may not receive the oxygen and nutrients it needs. Placental abruption from a car accident may be full or partial. In most cases of placental abruption from a car accident, the mother was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident.

Uterine rupture—Tearing of the uterine wall may be caused by deceleration on impact. Uterine injury due to a car accident is almost exclusive to pregnant women. Although rare, uterine rupture carries a high likelihood of fetal death.

Miscarriage—Car accident trauma can cause a miscarriage. Fetal distress may result from blunt trauma, placental abruption, or a lack of oxygen.

Fetal death—Blunt injury to the fetus may cause death. About 10% of car crashes involving a pregnant woman result in direct fetal injury. The head is the most often injured part of a fetus because it is the largest part of the fetus.

Documenting the Accident and Medical Evidence

If you’re in a car accident while pregnant, it’s important to document the accident and your medical injuries. You may have the right to compensation, which may include trauma to an unborn child or loss of the child. You must prove your case and the appropriate monetary award.

The medical care you receive immediately following the accident can be especially important for your well-being and the welfare of your unborn child. In addition, medical attention documents injuries and the appropriate course of treatment. This evidence can document the severity of the accident to establish appropriate compensation.

Legal Rights in a Pregnancy-Related Car Accident Settlement

Our lawyers can evaluate your legal rights for a pregnancy-related car accident settlement.

South Carolina law distinguishes between a viable and a non-viable unborn child for wrongful death. The wrongful death law applies only to the death of a person. The South Carolina Supreme Court says an unborn child qualifies as a person for the wrongful death law at the point that it is viable. An unborn child is viable when it could survive outside of the womb. This is around 24 weeks of gestation. See Crosby v. Glasscock Trucking Co., and Fowler v. Woodward.

Although this rule is unforgiving and harsh, you may recover for pregnancy complications, physical pain and suffering, and other challenges relating to pregnancy loss. You may claim for both economic and non-economic losses.

In South Carolina, if a child is born alive, the child may recover for prenatal injuries. The injuries may have occurred before or during viability. Even if the baby is hurt in the early stages of pregnancy, their injuries may be devastating. South Carolina law allows the child to recover for their injuries without having to prove a distinction of whether they occurred before or after viability (Hudak v. George—the concept of viability is irrelevant when the infant is born alive).

How a Greenville Car Accident Lawyer Can Help

If you have been in a car accident while pregnant, we are sorry. Jordan Law Center is a Greenville car accident lawyer that can help you evaluate your situation and pursue your case.

We can pursue a pregnancy-related car accident settlement or take your case to trial to seek compensation.

Contact

If you have been in a car accident while pregnant, it can be hard to know what to do. We invite you to have a consultation with Jordan Law Center. Talk to a lawyer about your situation. You can have representation today. Contact us now.