For victims of a catastrophic accident, a broken bone is far more than a temporary inconvenience. Severe or complex fractures can fail to heal properly, leading to a lifetime of pain, disability, and the need for repeated, invasive surgeries. This is particularly true for older patients or those with multiple traumatic injuries. The inability of the body to fully repair a serious fracture can be one of the most significant long-term damages in a personal injury case.

But what if the body could be prompted to regenerate bone, almost as if it had a “second skeleton” in reserve? Groundbreaking new research is turning this idea from science fiction into a potential reality.

A recent discovery, detailed in a report from Penn Medicine, has identified a specific type of stem cell that is crucial for healing bone. Researchers found that these “mesenchymal stem cells” are activated after a fracture and are essential for the bone’s ability to repair itself. The study suggests that for patients with difficult-to-heal fractures, it may one day be possible to transplant these specific cells to the injury site to stimulate proper healing.

What This Medical Breakthrough Means for Your Injury Lawsuit

While this technology is still in the research phase, it has profound implications for how we approach catastrophic injury cases today. This research helps us argue for the full, true value of our clients’ claims by focusing on the immense cost of future medical care.

• Justifying the Need for Future Treatment: This discovery underscores what we already know: severe fractures may not heal with just a cast and time. We can use this type of research to argue that a client may need advanced, and expensive, future treatments like stem cell therapy to have any hope of a full recovery.
• Calculating Lifelong Costs: When a personal injury claim involves a life-altering injury from a car accident or a devastating motorcycle accident, we don’t just seek compensation for current medical bills. We work with life-care planning experts to project the cost of all potential future medical needs over the victim’s lifetime. The possibility of future regenerative medicine must be factored into this calculation.
• Holding Negligent Parties Fully Accountable: The at-fault party is responsible for the full scope of the harm they caused. This includes not just the initial injury, but the lifelong medical journey required for recovery. This is especially critical in cases involving a catastrophic truck accident where the injuries are often extreme. In the most tragic cases, where a victim dies from complications, this highlights the severity of the initial trauma in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Medical science is constantly advancing, offering new hope to those with the most severe injuries. Your legal representation should be just as forward-thinking. We stay at the forefront of these developments to ensure that the compensation we fight for reflects the true, lifelong cost of your injuries and the potential of future medical breakthroughs to aid your recovery.

Contact Manoukian Law for a free and confidential consultation.